Without a Myth and Five Other Plays by Richard Seltzer

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Without a Myth, a Stage Play in Three Acts

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Without a Myth, a Stage Play in Three Acts by Richard Seltzer

Copyright 1971 by Richard Seltzer

Note for staging:

The characters are assigned roles. They can either go ahead and act out their lives in complete accord with their given script (myth) or they can drop out and never have any role. They have 24 hours in which to decide. For those 24 hours, the characters can step out of their roles momentarily. Whenever a character "steps out" of his or her role, the rest of the cast freezes, to start again where they left off as soon as that character steps back into his or her role.

The Set:

Can be staged with minimal props, e.g., chairs, something to serve as a partition (with a door-like opening), and perhaps a step-ladder for Alogos to rest on.

Alternatively, it could be staged with an elaborate castle interior and the mountains of Elis visible in the distance. In that case, the scenery and props should be put in place by stagehands during the first act and disassembled and carried off by them during the third act.

Costumes:

Uniform, stylized, and simple, to give an other-worldly impression.

Alternatively, the costumes could be simple at the first appearance of each character, then become more elaborate at their reappearance in the second act, and return to simple in the third.

Cast of Characters (in order of their appearance)

Alogos, who serves as prologue and epilogue (cf. Stage Manager in Our Town)

First Noble

Second Noble

Archos, king of Arcadia

Gune (pronounced "goonay"), his wife

Phyllis, their daughter, the princess

Agatha, her handmaid

Soothsayer, played by the same actor as Alogos; whenever he takes on the Soothsayer role, he puts on a silly distinctive hat, perhaps a dunce hat with the word "Soothsayer" in big letters

Minstrel

Messenger

Amythos, the god-like stranger

stagehands

The time: Sometime in the mythic past/present/future in the kingdom of Arcadia. 

Act I.

Scene 1. Throne room at the palace of King Archos.

Scene 2. Bedroom of Princess Phyllis. Dawn the following morning

Act II.

Scene 1. A room in the palace. Later that day.

Scene 2. Throne room. Later that day.

Scene 3. A room in the palace. Later that day.

Scene 4. Two rooms of the palace separated by a partition with a door. Later that day.

Act III.

Scene 1. Outside the palace. Sunset that day.

Scene 2. A room in the palace. Two days later.

ACT I, SCENE 1

ALOGOS is alone, in front of curtain.

ALOGOS

Complain, complain. All they ever do is complain. And all I ask is a chance. Why, when I was at school I could wield a sword or deliver a speech with the best of them. But now they weep and laugh, kill dragons and make love, while all I do is watch, forever watch. It isn't fair. Do you hear me, gods? It isn't fair! But they don't hear me. Nobody ever hears me -- the real me. Only when I put on my silly Soothsayer's hat and mouth the words of the script do they even know that I'm here.

(Enter FIRST and SECOND NOBLES to area in front of curtain. ALOGOS makes faces and performs antics trying to distract them. They proceed as if he weren't there.)

FIRST NOBLE

Is it not enough that our land is plagued by wizards and dragons and that we are besieged by the Thessalian army? Why must that Soothsayer plague us still more with his riddling words?

SECOND NOBLE

"Dread monsters, a deadly spell, arrival of a stranger." Such secrets so revealed are darker still than ignorance.

(FIRST AND SECOND NOBLE leave while speaking, completely ignoring ALOGOS.)

ALOGOS

I should have known better. It's been long enough. Well, let's get on with it, with this myth you complain of, this magnificent myth. The Thessalian army outnumbers your forces three to one. The air is fraught with danger, delicious danger. And soon there will be feats, heroic feats, great mythic deeds of valor. Get on with it.

(The curtain rises as ALOGOS gestures for it to rise, revealing a throne room. He gestures magnificently, clownishly, for it to fall, but it doesn't -- he has no power over it.)

(KING ARCHOS of Arcadia is on his throne, flanked by his wife QUEEN GUNE and their daughter PHYLLIS, with her handmaid AGATHA. FIRST and SECOND NOBLES stand off to the side. The SOOTHSAYER stands near ARCHOS. The MINSTREL stands near AGATHA, with whom he tries to flirt, but she gives him no encouragement.)

ALOGOS

There will be love and dragons; a wizard, a beautiful princess, a god-like stranger who...

(When ARCHOS begins talking, ALOGOS resignedly shuts up and retires inconspicuously to a corner of the stage. He might sit or lean on a ladder. None of the other characters ever gives any indication of seeing or hearing ALOGOS unless and until he puts on the Soothsayer's hat -- perhaps a dunce hat with the word "Soothsayer" in large letters.)

ARCHOS

Again I ask, who is this stranger? I, Archos, king of Arcadia demand to know who is this stranger the gods so prate about.

(ALOGOS hesitates, then, with a pained expression, puts on the SOOTHSAYER's hat and suddenly shifts to that role in all seriousness.)

SOOTHSAYER

Patience, your majesty, patience. The myth unfolds. Man lives it. The myth is comedy. Man lives his tragedy.

ARCHOS

You act like the prologue in a play, telling us but enough to whet our appetites.

SOOTHSAYER

There will arrive a stranger.

ARCHOS

Tell us more! We must know more!

SOOTHSAYER

There will arrive...

MESSENGER

(From off-stage.) Hail!

(He enters running, breathless.) Hail...

(There's an anxious pause until he regains his breath.) Hail, King Archos! The stranger...

(Again, he struggles for breath, evidently highly excited and very nervous. This is the first time he has ever spoken to a king.) The stranger swept all before him. The day is ours.

ARCHOS

All hail to Zeus! And who is this, his thunderbolt sent to save our land?

MESSENGER

I fear I know not, lord, his name.

(He is uncomfortable, nervous, not knowing what to say next.)

But look, now at the gate. He comes himself -- the god-like stranger.

(He says this magnificently. He is proud of the gesture and the words he chose. He stays in that affected pose too long.)

FIRST NOBLE

Indeed, he has a god-like visage.

SECOND NOBLE

A mighty arm.

GUNE

He's a herculean hero!

(Enter Amythos.)

ARCHOS

Hail, oh god-like stranger. Here you will be honored above all men. Your might arm has saved our kingdom.

AMYTHOS

Despite myself.

ARCHOS

What was that you said?

AMYTHOS

I didn't intend to do it. Something came over me. The sound of battle awakened a childish urge in me, and I found myself in the midst of battle, hacking heads and arms. It was horrible. I'm ashamed.

ARCHOS

There's naught to be ashamed of. It was the gods who sent you to our aid.

GUNE

How few have been the heroes of these latter days. And here stands one before us, still glistening with the dust and sweat of his greatest battle....