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Posted by Odyssey Auditions!
on May 17, 2009, 10:02 pm, in reply to "The Odyssey"
FIRST READING – PENELOPE and EURYCLEIA
EURYCLEIA
Come back from the window, my lady. There’s a chill wind tonight.
PENELOPE
My son stands on the beach
EURYCLEIA
Looking for signs of his father. Hopeful to the last.
PENELOPE
Two sets of footprints on the sand, but he stands alone.
EURYCLEIA
He’ll be pacing up and down. That’s what I do when I’m nervous.
PENELOPE
And the wind blows the wrong way for this time of night, away from the shore.
EURYCLEIA
It’s a chill wind all right. Straight off the mountains. Come away from the window now and take this cloak.
PENELOPE
Do you hear what those young men say about me?
EURYCLEIA
Take no notice.
PENELOPE
That I’m carved from ice. That I give them knowing looks, feed them with hope. That I’m the one making the situation worse.
EURYCLEIA
It’s the drink in them that talks. They’re loud-mouths, and louder still with a jar of wine in their gut.
PENELOPE
It’s true, though, isn’t it?
EURYCLEIA
What’s true?
PENELOPE
That I’m the corn that keeps the locusts fed.
EURYCLEIA
Don’t torture yourself.
PENELOPE
But I’m right, aren’t I?
EURYCLEIA
I’m a brusher of hair and a hanger of clothes – I’m not paid for my wit.
PENELOPE
Yes, it’s unfair of me…
EURYCLEIA
But since you’re asking, I’ll tell you how it is. You live like a widow, with no man at your side, and you’ve lived like that for nigh on twenty years. Until you bury Odysseus, you’re still his wife. It pays to be cold on the outside with that lot down there drooling at your feet and sniffing under the bedroom door. But I know you. I’ve known you for donkey’s years, and there’s a flame somewhere inside, right? In your heart, I shouldn’t wonder, and it won’t go out.
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