Alcmaeon in Corinth

Colin Teevan

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781786822260
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Ancient & Classical Drama
• Index: Literature

Based on 20 previously untranslated fragments, this is a reconstruction of Euripides lost tragic comedy, Alcmaeon in Corinth, the third part of his final trilogy, with Bacchai and Iphigeneia in Aulis.
Alcmaeon, having killed his mother, is pursued by the furies, his madness taking the form of satyriasis. When he unwittingly finds himself in bed with his daughter, he must face his children's fury.
Alcmaeon in Corinth was commissioned by The Academy at Live Theatre, Newcastle, and was performed there in September 2004.

Characters

HERA

A CHORUS of Corinthian women

TISIPHONE*

ALCMAEON

ISTHMIAS

CREON

CREUSA

NIKARETE, Priestess of Aphrodite AMPHILOCHUS*

A CHORUS of hierodoules of Aphrodite who include:
GROUND BEATER
FLUTE GIRL
WATER CLOCK
OBOLE

* The parts of TISIPHONE and AMPHILOCHUS are played by the same actress.

This version of Alcmaeon in Corinth was first performed as Cock of the North at Live Theatre, Newcastle on 15 September 2004, with the following cast:

HERA, Deborah McMullan

TISIPHONE / AMPHILOCUS, Catherine Mac Cabe

ALCMAEON, Andrew Horsley

ISTHMIAS, Emma Roxburgh

CREON, John McMahon

CREUSA, Emma-Louise Whittle

NIKARETE, PRIESTESS OF APHRODITE, Polly Goodwin

GROUND BEATER, Laura Breen

FLUTE GIRL, Ellie Fletcher

WATER CLOCK, Emma Roxburgh

OBOLE, Deborah McMullan

A CHORUS OF CORINTHIAN WOMEN, Members of the Company

Director, Martin Wylde

Composer and Musical Director, Mick Sands

Production Designer, Ruth Paton

Movement Director, Tracy Gillman

Lighting Designer, Paul Colley

Live Theatre
7/8 Trinity Chare
Quayside
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 3DF

The Goddess HERA in the here and now, sifts fragments.

Hera

‘The Gods avenge the pollution
Caused by the murder of a parent’

‘Why should people have children, father,
If they don’t help them in adversity’

‘Aren’t you aware, young women,
What’s going on in town?’

Fragments, snatches of sentences on dusty leaves
Torn from old book rolls,
Frish-frash fished from the silt of the river
Of two millennia or more of words.

‘He destroyed Oedipus
And Oedipus destroyed me,
All because of the golden necklace –’

‘In speech I explained that woman is the greatest benefit
And the worst ill for a man to bear.’

‘Argaina – becoming white.’

‘O child of Creon, how true it is,
That noble children are born of noble men
And children of ignoble men
Resemble their fathers in nature’

So, let us weave these words,
The last stray and fraying threads,
Let us weave them into a fine peplos,
A dress fit for a Goddess. Begin then.

‘Friends, young women of Corinth, come see,
A stranger is arriving on the quay.
What sea-girt island is he from?
And why to Corinth has he come?’

Chorus

Corinth, city of the north,
Beloved of Aphrodite,
City of painted temples
And the nightly ecstasies
Of flesh on silky flesh,
The dark mysteries of desire,
Korinthiazomai,
To copulate in the ancient tongue,
Open up your arms in welcome.

Come, women of Corinth,
Angels of the north,
Come from your homes and see,
Sailing back across the years,
Alcmaeon,
Our native son returning,
So leave your weaving and come, come.

Tell, tell of Alcmaeon,
Tell how fearlessly he fought
By his father’s side at Thebes.
Tell how his mother, Eriphyle
Bribed with a golden necklace,
Betrayed them to the enemy.
Tell how, over his dying father,
Upon all women he swore revenge,
Most of all upon his mother.
And tell how the oracle then told him
That his mother deserved to die.
But O, as he pushed the knife
Into the belly that had borne him,
His mother cried out
‘O, Gods avenge the pollution
Caused by this matricide.
Deny my son shelter, deny him rest,
Let him not find peace on any woman’s breast.
Erinyes, avenge my death’

Come women of Corinth,
Angels of the North,
Come from your homes and see,
Sailing back across the years,
The man pursued by the Erinyes,
The kindly ones, lest we too incur their wrath.
So come, women come.

But O the songs that he sang, O,
As he ran from bed to bed,
And O the song that he sang, O,
With those harridans howling in his head.

Nothing is so sweet as desire,
Nectar from the most prized flower,
My mouth overflows with honey.
She who knows not Aphrodite,
Knows not what roses are.

TISIPHONE emerges.

Tisiphone

Excuse me, women of Corinth, but who is he,
Whose boat now draws up to the quay?

Chorus

And who are you? And where’ve you been?

Tisiphone

Tisiphone, daughter of the king and queen,
Creon and Creusa. I heard the noise
And the excitement, I came...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• ALCMAEON IN CORINTH