Phaedra
A Mythic Drama In 7 Scenes
By Robert P. Arthur
About
the Play:
Phaedra was performed at Christopher Newport University under the direction
of Naum Panovski and starring international film star Ina Gogolova; it
was performed first for the general public and then for an invited VIP
audience from foreign embassies in Washington D.C. It won six Port Folio
awards, including Best Play. It is best described as a post-modern play
in contemporary English poetry. Through based on the well-known Phaedra
story of ancient origin it is an original work, not an adaptation or translation;
nor is it written in traditional verse. Further, it has no artistic debt
to any contemporary work.
Time:
Indefinite
Cast
List:
Tony... A poet in his twenties
Jerry... Tony’s uncle
Phaedra... Tony’s stepmother, in her thirties
Nona... Phaedra’s middle-aged maid
Alisha... Tony’s fiancé
Teddy... Tony’s father and Phaedra’s husband
Tony’s Mother... A voice from the shadows
Fishwives... Figures in shadows
Place:
A second story room with a window overlooking the night sea. The set is
not realistic, possibly employing columns and a blue marble floor. A fire
is burning in a suggestion of a fireplace. The type of room is unspecified
and is furnished by only chair, a very small desk, and a full-length mirror.
From
the Play:
Jerry: You are disturbed, Tony
By your stepmother's walks?
Tony: Night after night. She is predatory, Uncle. (Lightning flashes)
Have you seen how she looks at me? Eyes boring, black as death, and grave?
Jerry: She longs for her own country. Who wouldn't? Left alone here, in
the compound...with you and me...and her lying nursemaid, a terrible woman.
Tony: Often, Phaedra pauses beneath this window, listening. What does
she mean by it?
Jerry: How should I know? I'm a bachelor, and do your father's books.
Tony: Sometimes I dream of my father and Phaedra in their bedroom by the
sea...in failing light, she combing and braiding her long black hair...(Tony
shuts eyes.) Roses with thorns are affixed to her mirror, as if by faith.
My father, quiet, appears, suddenly, behind her, his rough hands wet and
slick with a rabbit's blood.
Jerry: Dreams mean nothing. Oh, what's this...an error here...in the bill
of lading. Sixteen times fourteen...one sixty-eight! (Jerry erases entry)
Tony: Between my father and me, Uncle, there are depths, unfathomed
Single Copy $8.50
Production Copies: $7.70 W/Royalty
Royalties $50/$35
Order Now
|
About
the Playwright:
Robert P. Arthur is a multi-award winning playwright, poet, and novelist
whose plays and poems have been presented internationally. His works include
novels (Crazy Horse in Heaven); poem plays with music and for dance (Hymn
to the Chesapeake; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Onley) , musicals
(Dreams of Bonnie Prince Charlie) plays (Floyd Collins and the White Angels
of Sand), among others. He is also a theatre reviewer and college professor.
|