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The Orphan
A Play in Two Acts
by David W. Rabe
A Samuel French Acting Edition
samuelfrench.com
Copyright © 1970 by David W. Rabe, Under the Title “Nor the Bones of Birds”
Copyright © 1971 (Revised and Rewritten) By David W. Rabe
Copyright ©, 1975 (Revised and Rewritten) By David W, Rabe
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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ISBN
978-0-573-61355-5
Printed
in
U.S.A.
#17048
THE ORPHAN was first produced professionally by
Joseph Papp on April 18, 1973 under the direction of
Jeff Bleckner with the following cast:
Jeanne H epple
THE SPEAKER . • • • • . • • . • . . . • . . . . . •
ORESTES
Cliff De Young
•. . . ••. •. ••. . . . .•. •. . •••
CLYTEMNESTRA
1 .............. Marcia Jean K urtz
CLYTEMNESTRA
2 ...................... Rae Allen
AGAMEMNON •....•..•.•.••..••..•.
W. B. Brydon
AEGISTHUS . • . . • • • • . . • . . • • • . . . . . . • •
John Harkins
GmL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M ariclaire Costello
CALCHAS . . • • . • • . • • • • • • • • • • . . . . . • •
Tom Aldredge
APOLLO • .. . . • . .. .. . . .. .. . . . . . • .. .
Richard Lynch
IPHEGENIA . . • • . . . • . . . . . • . • . . . . . •
Laurie Heineman
ELECTRA .•.••.•.......••••.•••••••
Carol Williard
Peter Maloney
PYLADES
THE FAMILY MEMBERS:
FAMILY
1 ... . ............ . .. . .. Annemarie Zinn
FAMILY 2 ..••••..••.••.• • ..•... . ..
FAMILY
Janet Sarro
3 .. ..... ..... ..... ....... Joanne Nail
Associate producer, Bernard Gersten; set by Santo
Loquasto; costumes by Theoni V. Aldredge; lighting
by Tharon Musser ; music by Peter Link.
3
THE ORPHAN was produced in it's current and final
form by The Manning Street Actors' Theater of
Philadelphia in association with the New York
Shakespeare Festival produced by Joseph Papp on
March 13, 1974 under the direction of Barnet Kellman.
THE FIGURE .. .. . •..• . ........ . ..... Jon Thomson
THE SPEAKER .................... Cindy Winkler
ORESTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tommy Hulce
CLYTEMNESTRA 1 .............. . . Annemarie Zinn
CLYTEMNESTRA 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Norma Orazi
AGAMEMNON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Fancy
AEGISTHUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark McGovern
THE GIRL .......................... Nancy Mette
ELECTRA . . . . ..... . ..... . ...... Bonnie Cavanaugh
l PHEGENIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maureen McFadden
THE FAMILY MEMBERS :
PYLADES and FAMILY 1 .... . ..... Alkis Papoutsis
BECKY and FAMILY 2 . . .. . . . .. . .... Susan Payne
SALLY and FAMILY 3 ......... . . Pamela Sindaco
JENNY and FAMILY 4 ....... Maureen McFadden
Associate producers, Bernard Gersten and J oe Stinson; set by Deb be Hale; costumes by A. Christina
Ciannini; lighting by James Leitner; music by Elizabeth Myers.
4
CAST
THE FIGURE
THE SPEAKER
ORESTES :
W ho doubles as
CLYTEMNESTRA
1
CLYTEMNESTRA
2
THE MAN IN THE
TUB
AGAMEMNON
AEGISTHUS
THE GIRL
ELECTRA
!PHEGENIA
THE FAMILY MEMBERS:
PYLADES:
BECKY:
SALLY:
J ENNY :
Who is also FAMILY 1
Who is also FAMILY 2
Who is also FAMILY 3
Who is also FAMILY 4
Music is available for production of this play. For
detailed information write to Samuel French, Inc.,
25 West 45th Street, New York, N.Y. 10036.
5
The Orphan
ACT ONE
Upstage Center a control b()oth is raised about ten
feet off the ground. The front wood panel conceals two chairs. One belongs to the Stage Manager while the second is used by the SPEAKER on
those occasions that she sits in the booth. Hanging bef()re the booth and down to the floor in
front of the cave-like playing area below the booth
is a large rope cargo net. Two boxes can be seen
behind the net, each about a foot and a half high.
The backdrop is dark. Standing at an angle on
the Stage Left side is a three-leveled scaffold with
wheels so it can be moved. Stage Right is a second
scaff()ld with only two levels and no wheels. Both
scaffolds must be rigged with rope for they will
be used at various times for the manipulations of
the net. Other strands of rope, twine, string are
simply woven on the various parts of the poles.
The lights rise slowly and we see SALLY and JENNY,
two young girls, on the floor beneath the Stage
Right scaffold. Dressed in dark-colored, formfitted garments and colorful rope nets in the shape
of togas, they lean against the poles and seem to
sleep. BECKY, another young girl who is dressed
like SALLY and J ENNY, stands on the first level
()f the Stage Left scaffold. PYLADES, a young man
wearing a baggy military jumpsuit under a colorful net toga, stands on the first level of the Stage
Right scaffold. He wears green canvas combat
boots. In the rising lights we see that B EcKY,
7
8
THE ORPHAN
Af:!r I
and PYLADES are all wearing halfmasks molded to the shape of their own faces ,
and we see that eight white heads hang from the
ceiling above the nets of rope and string. In the
rising light we see that CLYTEMNESTRA 1 and
CLYTEMNESTRA 2 sit on the boxes behind the large,
hanging cargo net. They wear similar costumes.
Their hair is the same color. CLYTEMNESTRA 2 is
ten or fifteen years older than CLYTEMNESTRA 1.
They are the same person at two different points
of time in her life. They sit on the boxes behind
the net with a single shawl across their shoulders.
One is young, thoughtful, hopeful, the other
violent, sensual, bitter, older. Their costumes echo
one another in design and color and have a somewhat classical line. Under the Stage Left scaffold
stands IPHEG.E NIA, a young girl, a child dressed in
white. Upstage Center stands AGA.l'dEMNON wearing a maroon turtleneck shirt, maroon trousers
and brown dress shoes. On the top level of the
Stage Left scaffold stands a young woman called
"THE GrnL." She wears a blouse and jeans and
beads and has a scarf tied around her long
straight hair. Her feet are bare. Downstage Center
are "THE FIGURE" and "THE SPEAKER." "THE
FIGURE" is a young man in a white T -shirt, Levi
jacket and jeans, and high fringed moccasin
boots. His hair is dark; he is lean and agile; he
has a thick black beard. "THE SPEAKER" is a
young woman dressed neatly and conservatively;
she holds a flashlight in one hand, a microphone
in the other. The lights come up and everyone is
there. The FIGURE leans close to the SPEAKER's
ear.
J ENNY, SALLY
THE FIGURE. Say "Good Evening."
SPEAKER. Good evening. (Into her mike as THE
FIGURE is leaving.) In a place like this we all begin.
ACT
I
THE ORPHAN
9
Deep within the dark of another's belly. The smallest
and largest cells collide and multiplying ten thousand
times possess one beating heart. Think of time as a
pool. Do we speak to the past? Or merely look at it?
Is it right? Left? Up? Down? (She shines her light in
many directions as ORESTES comes running on.) Here
comes Orestes.
ORESTES. I have been told I am Orestes. (He wears a.
tan T-shirt, tan trousers.)
BECKY. It is written that you kill your mother.
T HE F·IGURE. (High in the scaffolding.) You want
to kill your mother. You want Clytemnestra dead.
ORESTES. (The flashlight flickering upon him.) I have
been told I kill my mother. I want some time to have
my mother dead.
SPEAKER. There is Electra. (She is crossing the stage
and ORESTES moves toward her, yet she seems to flee
him as he is grabbed and spun by JENNY and everyone is on the move. )
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. And all is mist.
0LYTE::I1NESTRA 2. When there is a thing that I must.
touch. I reach. (Toge the1· they strain forward against
the net.)
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. I am dirt.
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. It flees.
SPEAKER. She is, as you see, One and Two. T en years
older. T en years younger. Clytemnestra. (The
SPEAKER's flashlight hits each separately.) Clytemnestra.
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. I CLYTEMNESTRA 2. I (They rise and spin off from one another, whirling in
opposite directions.)
SPEAKER. She splits like an atom. Divides like a
cell. Multiplying into the future.
THE FIGURE. (Still high in the scaffolding.) And all
A<::r I
THE ORPH AN
10
is like a strange impossible Monday when you must
kill and kill your mother.
ORESTES. And all is like a strange impossible Monday when I must kill ... and kill my mother.
(ORESTES moves toward CLYTEMNESTRA 1, his sword
pointing at her as she backs away in fear, and BECKY
deftly robs him of the sword, startling him. He had
expected no resistance. Off the sword goes, passing
from hand to hand across the space behind him. He
is dazed.)
SPEAKER. Before the advent of the special theory
of relativityBECKY. No one ever thought there could be any
ambiguity in the statementSALLY. - that two events in different places happened at the same timeJENNY. -or that two events in different places happened at different timesSPEAKER and FAMILY. Science found, however, that
two events in different places may appear simultaneously to one observerBECKY. While another may judge that the second
event preceded the firstJENNY. - and still a third may say thatSPEAKER. -that the first event preceded the second.
SALLY. This would occur when the three observers
were moving rapidly relative to one another.
SPEAKER. M ay this not also mean its opposite?
SPEAKER and FAMILY. (As they circle counterclockwise, spinning off to new positions.) May it not be
that events thought to be in sequence are, in fact,
simultaneous? (And the knife has come back now to
the hand of ORESTES.)
ORESTES. She fills the corners of my room. She fills
the corners of my room.
(And behind him fire flares. AGAMEMNON stands, an
urn containing fire in his palms.)
ACT I
THE ORPHAN
11
AGAMEMNON. Curious, bow the smell of incense is
sweeter than the bones of Troy burning. In this
flickering, I see the way a face can change with fear
or flame. (CLYTEMNESTRA 2 has moved from behind
the net. She is approaching him.) I am tired. I am
home. I have seen the sleeping face of my child.
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. I welcome you, Husband.
AGAMEMNON. The thought weakens me. The tiredness I would not feel now takes me. (Embracing her.)
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. You shall bathe. We will bathe
together. (He laughs warmly.) The tub is prepared
with scented water. The sheets of our bed are fresh.
Wine and fruit await us. (AEGISTHUS enters, wheeling
on the tub. He wea1·s a white T-shirt. A large, cumbersome medallion hangs on a chain around his neck.
Over the T-shirt and medallion he wears a short net
toga. His trousers are dark as a1·e his shoes. The tub
is a laundry basket on wheels with a towel draped
over the side.) Go to the tub.
AcA~EMNON. I will. And you will undress and join
me. Who is this servant? (AEGISTHUS bows.) And my
Trojan slave-the girl, Cassandra, my prize war,
where is she?
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. I have sent her to the kitchens.
AGAMEMNON. I t is said she knows the future.
(From behind, AEGISTHUS smashes down a club upon
the head of AGAMEMNON who, crying out, falls to
the floor.)
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. Whoring in your foreign bed, did
she tell you of this moment in the future? Or of the
moment two minutes ago, when her own throat was
cut in the kitchens? Put him in the tub. H e is important in the tub. (And they work to lift him.) You
smell of time gone, Agamemnon. It's time that you
bathe. Let it begin that you bathe. You are filth and
filth must bathe. (They have dumped his slack body
A~ I
THE ORPHAN
12
in the tub. Now she is looking about.) Where's the
net? We must have the net.
.AEGISTHUS. I see no net.
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. (AGAMEMNON is stirring.) He
moves ; already he starts to awaken. Where is the net?
We must have the net and knife?
THE FIGURE. Clytemnestra I (In the scaffolding high
above them he stands, waving the net.) Clytemnestra ! . . .
AEGISTHUS. Who's that?
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. He has the net.
.AEGISTHus. Who is it?
THE FIGURE. I have the net.
AEGISTHUS. It is Apollo ! Yes. Apollo, God of Reason,.
has the net. (And slowly THE FIGURE is descending
the ladder toward them.) Born on the little island of
D elos, Apollo is beautiful. A master musician. A
talented archer and goodly doctor. Yet even more than
these fine and wondrous virtues, he is the God of
Trut h and Reason from whom no lie can come, the
God of Light in whom there is no dark at all.
THE FIGURE. Your thighs are white and perfect,
Clytemnestra. What is he, Agamemnon, always poking
and seeking in the air outside himself, his feeble seed
desolate on sand or stone, till he can enter the rich
earth of your belly. He rises into emptiness, stands
obvious and simple. You are a clever, subtle cavern,
deep and jeweled within.
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. Apollo, am I chosen? Have you
chosen me?
THE FIGURE. What other life have we but y ou?
Clytemnestra, you are all. (He has put the net around
her shoulders. Now he is backing away from her.)
All.
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. Oh, Apollo, no; I worship you.
THE FIGURE. I worship you.
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. I have the net, Aegisthus! (Slowly
AEGISTHus reaches to take an end of the net.) Look,
ACT I
THE ORPHAN
13
I have the netl (And together, stealthily, t hey move
to spread the net above Ao~~EMNON in the tub.) And
when we drop the net upon him.
AEGISTHUS. We drop the net upon him.
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. We drop the net upon him.
(And they fling the net down upon AGAMEMNON ancl
then leap backward. Slowly, carefully, a little
perplexed, AGAMEMNON takes hold of the net.)
AGA:\iEMNON. What's this? What's this?
ORESTES. (Rushing forward, raging, knife in hand.)
She fills the corners of my room I
CLYTEMNESRTA 1. I amCLYTEMNESTRA 2. -dirt! (This is with revulsion. )
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. Dirt!
(And the telephone begins to ring loudly, spreading
fear through everyone. They scurry back and
forth, looking upward.)
SPEAKER. We call to one another across space-our
voices pass through distance-may we not call through
time, also-down and up, let us say, through time.
IPHEGENIA. Hello. Hello. (As ORESTES moves to her
and AGAMEMNON, in the net and tub, reaches u pward.)
AGAMEMNON. Hello. (As ORESTES moves toward him
and the SPEAKER is climbing a ladder to the booth.)
AEGISTHUS. (Behind the huge, hanging cargo net.)
Hello.
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. Hello.
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. Hello.
GIRL. (Standing in a far corner of the scaffolding,
a phone in her hands.) Well, I was just the kinda person who would groove, see, just flow with the moment.
Because I knew society was not worthy of my respect,
I made up my own, only my justice was just, unlike
the regular one. I had this man offer to marry me and
14
THE ORPHAN
ACJr I
be was older so I fled, and shortly thereafter, on acid,
I saw down into the center of the earth, and I said,
"Oh, God, just take me, now for yours." and the next
day, I met this man. (THE FIGURE moves behind her
to embrace her.) And he sang for me and knew my
heart and he was Abaddon, the angel from Ohio, and
I was in the Army. (The ringing stops.)
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. (Moving sadly past ORESTES.)
And now I see Orestes and the thing I am seeking is
a knife of silver in his fingers.
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. (Moving past ORESTES to sadly
embrace CLYTEMNESTRA 1.) Having fallen to him.
THE FIGURE. Through the flesh of the father to the
hand of the son falls the sword.
(And ORESTES ha.s moved to stand beside CLYTEMNESTRA 1 and 2, holding the sword pointed at
them, as ELECTRA comes wandering by.)
ELECJrRA. I was so important, so important.
CLYTEMNESTRA 1 and 2. Who will help us?
THE FIGURE. I am here.
SPEAKER. It is God.
GIRL. Oh, wow.
AEGISTHUS. I was the most important person in the
world and they killed me.
CLYTEMNESTRA 1 and 2. What time is it?
SPEAKER. I t passes; goes by.
AEGISTHUS. Bubbles mark the ocean for a moment
where we drown.
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. I hold the infant of my son,
Orestes, in my arms.
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. I hold the infant of my killer in
my arms. (Both are happy and they rock invisible
infants side by side.)
THE FIGURE. Keep your son an infant, she believes,
and you will never die.
AEGISTHUS. What about Orestes?
Ac::r I
THE ORPHAN
15
SPEAKER. He kills you, Aegisthus.
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. I don't. (They look at AEGISTHUS,
then at each other.)
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. I don't.
SPEAKER. And you, Clytemnestra.
CLYTEMNESRTA 2. Nooo.
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. Nooo.
CLYTEMNESTRA2. I am not Agamemnon.
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. I live.
AGAMEMNON. (Reaching up in the tub and net.) I
want to be Aegisthus I
SPEAKER. You are Agamemnon.
AEGISTHUS. I want to be Agamemnon.
SPEAKER. You are Aegisthus.
AGAMEMNON. What is this net? What is it? It smells
of fish. I can smell the sea. (And he is struggling in
the net.) It holds me whichever way I go, I find it.
What is this net? I'll tear the threads. I'll tear them.
It doesn't tear. I'll rip them. I'll rip and tear. I'll bite
them. I 'll bite. They taste of salt. Fish and salt. I'll
pull them off. I 'll pull. (Now his struggle is frantic.)
I 'll bite them. Bite and throw. Bite it, throw it, tear
it. It doesn't! It doesn't! I'll rip and tear! I'll- l'llCASSANDRAAAAAAAA I WHAT IS THIS NET?
SPEAKER. (I n the booth near the Stage Manager.)
He, Agamemnon, at one point, killed a young king
and stole his wife. (She shines her flashlight onto
AGAMEMNON.) He ... killed their infant son and
took the woman to be his own and she was Clytemnestra. (Flashlight on CLYTEMNESTRA 1, who moves
to kneel on the floor in front of AGAMEMNON, who still
stands in the tub.) At another point, he, Agamemnon
. . . (Flashlight on AGAMEMNON.) sacrificed the life
of his daughter, Iphegenia . . . (Flashlight on IPHEGENIA as she moves to kneel beside CLYTEMNESTRA 1,
her mother, putting her head into her mother's lap.)
born of Clythemnestra in order that the wind would
arise and power his ships to Troy. At still another
16
THE ORPHAN
ACT I
point, she . . . (Flashlight on CLYTEMNESTRA 2, who
moves to kneel beside CLYTEMNESTRA 1.) and he . ..
(Flashlight ~n AEGISTHUS, who moves to stand behind
the kneeling CLYTEMNESTRA 2. This puts him beside
AGAMEMNON.) murdered him. They put down upon
Agamemnon a fish net and stabbed (Lights on AGAMEMNON, as ORESTES moves near, looking for a place
in this family portrait.) with a haunted knife of eight
inches and imperfect alloy. And she-
(Flashlight on the GIRL. They all look. She sits eating
peanuts. And suddenly everyone in fear, begins
to move as if to flee the stage until the GmL's
voice swps them.)
GmL. I mean, one a the things about great Abaddon,
our leader, that anybody woulda admired was how
he knew about people and he says, "Be kind to 'em ;
don't be tellin' 'em how you're gonna kill 'em. Let
'em go in peace into eternity," he says. 'Cause the
last thing you're doin' when you die, you just keep
doin' it-just, oh, wow, screamin' the whole way a
eternity.
IPHEJGENIA. H e makes me think of dogs. They lick
my breasts. They suck my tongue. He fills my sweating brain with dogs. I do not know I die. I phegenia
does not know she dies. What is his name?
(And behind her THE FIGURE is moving toward her.
Having taken off the Levi jacket, he wears a
thick net wga woven with bones over the white
T-shirt, a bone necklace and he is putting on a
half-mask molded to the contours of his own
face.)
AEGISTHUS. I have maps that show all we own. They
indicate the length and breadth of things, the up and
down, this and that; they show the top and bottom,
both sides, t rees and ocean.
ACT I
THE ORPHAN
17
THE FrcuR"e. Calchas! Calchas ! (He grabs IPHEGENIA from behind.) Mask of God made manifest in
man, Priest and prophet.
AGAMEMNON. I kill a thousand Trojans.
CLYTEMNESTRA 2. I kill Agamemnon.
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. I kill a ma.n; a husband.
AGA1\1EMNON. I kill a daughter.
(There is a curious note of music. IPHEGENIA is near
her FATHER. CLYTEMNESTRA 1 is beside her HusBAJ.~o. CLYTEMNESTRA 2 is between AEGISTHUS and
AGA:\fEMNON. ORESTES is near his MOTHER. 'The
music rises and togethe-r they all sing.)
ALL.
The sand in an hour-glass, measuring time,
is more or less accurate
which is to say, more or less inaccurate.
\Ve say "Monday," we say "Tuesday."
"I must do this, I must do that
Help, Hello, I drown, I drown."
We say "Monday," we say "Tuesday.
I must do this, I must do that,
Help, hello, I drown, I drown."
The sand in an hour-glass, measuring time,
is more or less accurate,
which is to say, more or less inaccurate.
We say "Monday," we say "Tuesday,
I must do this, I must do that.
Help, Hello, I drown, I drown."
\Ve say "Monday," we say "Tuesday,
I must do this, I must do that,
Help, hello, I drown, I drown."
Bubbles mark the ocean for a moment where we
drown.
Bubbles mark the ocean for a moment where we
drown.
18
THE ORPHAN
ACJI' I
Bubbles mark the ocean for a moment where we
drown.
Bubbles mark the ocean for a moment where we
drown.
SPEAKER. (As all are exiting. ) They come and go;
there have been the Greeks and Romans, the GrecoRomans; there have been the Chinese, the Assyrians,
Egyptians, the Jews. Today there are the Russians,
the Jews, Americans, Egyptians and Chinese. (It has
been a spinning of activity, all leaving, BECKY handing AGAMEMNON a message as he climbs from the tub
and THE FIGURE puts on the mask of Calchas and they
are priest and king.)
THE FIGURE. It is my burden to know what I know,
Agamemnon. You must do as I say.
AGAMEMNON. No.
THE FIGURE. You must send for your daughter.
AGAMEMNON. (Ang1-ily turning to face Calchas.) I
should have been told of your plan before you spoke
at council. There is no time now. Think of the weeks
as she travels; the wind could come before she arrived
and we would seem foolish.
THE FIGURE. Artimis has dreamed in lust of your
child.
AGAMEMNON. She said this to you, used the name of
Iphegenia, spoke my name?
THE FIGURE. They confer about you, Agamemnon.
They analyze your thoughts, discuss your deeds. All
you do is written in scrolls of smoke they read and
murmur about among themselves.
AGAMEMNON. I please the Gods; I pay them homage.
THE FIGURE. I am telling you, you do not. You
moan and yell that there is no wind, butAGAMEMNON. We are chained to this place, Priest!
The most powerful army in the world.
THE FIGURE. And I phegenia is the key. In smoke
and the moon and the innards of a blessed and Godsent bird, I have read Iphegenia must die.
ACT r
THE ORPHAN
19
AGAMEMNON. You have heard the Gods speak my
name and thoughts? Why do I not hear them? It is my
daughter.
THE FIGURE. Do I not feel in my pulse the movement of a star? Am I not the priest of Apollo? Apollo
made manifest in man, the issue of wisdom begotten
by knowledge! (Pause .) Send for the child. The wind
must have her.
AGAMEMNON. There is no way. I cannot ask her to
travel four hundred miles to die.
THE FIGURE. Trick her. Lie to her. Write a letter.
Send the letter now. (And already the letter is on the
move behind them as BECKY crosses with a large envelope in her hand and THE FIGURE is leaving as
JENNY takes the lette1· from BECKY and AGAMEMNON
is following after THE FIGURE, the letter passing from
the hands of JENNY to those of SALLY.) Pray to God
Apollo if you have need. He is here. Call out to him.
Call Apollo. God is good.
AGAMEMNON. I will beg her not to die. I will beg
the knife not to kill her- her skin not to open, her
heart to go on beating, though you, priest, hold it in
your hand. She is my child. Iphegenia !
l PHEGENIA. Who calls me? Who calls? Hello. (High
in the scaffolding, she has risen, hearing her name. She
looks about and starts climbing down as still the
lette1· travels across the space and CLYTEMNESTRA 1
stands behind the cargo net, waiting.)
SPEAKER. Sound consists of waves that need air to
travel. Sounds wiggle through the fabric of the air. It
is like cries and calls. Experimenters have sent out
sounds and gotten echoes back from more than two
million miles beyond the moon. Reflecting layers adrift
and restless there bounce back our sounds as cries
give rise to calls and calls to cries.
lPHEGENIA. What does the letter say, Mother? (CLYTEMNESTRA 1, reading the letter, looks up in surprise
20
A(Jr I
THE ORPHAN
to see both IPREGENIA and ELECTRA.) You have a
letter. May I know what it says?
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. This and that. It says this and
that. (She turns away from them.)
IPHEGENIA. I know it's from father. (IPHEGENIA and
ELECTRA lcok at each other. ELE(Jr&A starts to leave
and gestures that IPHEGENIA do the same.) Is he well?
(Pause. ELECTRA starts to move off.) Does he mention
me as a this or that?
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. (She turns, smiling, surprising
them both.) There is some trouble, but he seems in
good spirits, and he mentions you.
IPHEGENIA. Is there love in his mentioning? Oh, let
me see.
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. Your father has made plans. We
are to pack and travel to Aulus, you and I.
I PHEGENIA. To visit? Me?
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. To marry. (IPHEGENIA looks at
ELECTRA, then CLYTEMNESTRA 1.)
IPHEGENIA. Oh, mother. Oh, is it true? (She runs to
CLYTEMNESTRA 1, taking the letter.) It says I am to
marry Achilles. He is a God! Have you seen him? Is
he as beautiful as they say?
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. He is beautiful. And strong.
IPHEGENIA. (She runs to kneel and throws herself
in her MoTHER's lap.) You must help me plan colors
and clothing and you must explain what I have done
to make a God love me, so I may never stop doing
it. (She runs to embrace ELECTRA.) I am to marry.
CLYTEMNESTRA 1. Is there only eagerness to leave
your poor mother alone?
IPHEGENIA. It is you he loves, mother. You are in
me and he loves you. We will make it so he never
thinks to leave. I -.,viii plan menus and parties. How is
it that I laugh and cry? It is not possible that I am
to be given to a God.
(And the tub, pushed by AEGISTHUs, comes rushing
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