The Love of the Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker
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The Love of the Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker Audition Date: Wednesday, September 11th, 6:45pm To Prepare: 1) Read the Play 2) Read this packet 3) Prepare a one-minute monologue accordingly. 1 This Packet. This audition packet is meant to provide actors with some preliminary information about the play as they prepare for their audition. It is intended as a supplement to reading Timberlake Wetenbaker’s script in its entirety, not a replacement. In other words: Read the play in its entirety. An attachment for the full script PDF is in the same email that contained this packet. Make sure to read through the different character breakdowns and give careful consideration as to what sort of monologue might showcase your ability to embody one of them. Do you relate to the early playfulness of Philomele? Her later defiance? Do you respond to the Niobe’s jaded resignation that there is terrible injustice in the world? What sort of monologue might communicate Tereus’s entitlement? What of Procne’s feelings of isolation when she goes to live in a foreign environment with an unfamiliar husband? Perhaps you enjoy the poetic commentary of the chorus. There are many ways to go, but consider the tone of the play and the emotional requirements of the characters. The Plot and its Sources. Let’s not mince words, Philomele is a horrifying myth; so horrifying that we need to ask ourselves why we would continue to tell it thousands of year since Sophocles presented a play based on it at the festival Dionsyia in the 5th century B.C.E. Like many Greek tragedies, the story of Philomele, Tereus, Procne, and Itys is a cautionary one. Only fragments of Sophocles’s play survive, but the story would later be popularized in Book VI (400-674) of Ovid’s Metamorphosis after Rome supplanted Greece as the preliminary power in the ancient Mediterranean world. Ovid’s version follows two princesses of Athens, Procne and Philomele. Their father, King Pandion, allies with King Tereus of Thrace in order to help Athens in a military conflict. King Pandion marries his older daughter, Procne, to Tereus to reward him for his valor in battle. Lonely and isolated in an unfamiliar land, Procne sends Tereus to retrieve her beloved younger sister who has promised to always come to her when called. Tereus is consumed with an all-consuming 2 passion upon seeing Philomele in Athens. On the journey back to Thrace he watches her like prey. Once they make land Tereus locks her away in a secluded tower. There, Tereus brutally assaults Philomele and cuts out her tongue when she threatens to expose him as a kidnapper and rapist. Tereus returns to Thrace and tells Procne that Philomele has died. Years pass and Philomele spends her time in captivity weaving a tapestry that depicts the terrible ways in which Tereus has violated her. She manages to have the tapestry secretly sent to her sister. Procne immediately recognizes it as Philomele’s work and understands its meaning. In Ovid’s version, Procne liberates her sister and the two kill Procne and Tereus’s son Itys as retribution for his father’s crimes. When Tereus discovers what his wife and her sister have done, he pursues them, but they are turned into birds; Procne a swallow, Philomele a nightingale, and Tereus a Hoopoe. (The Rape of Philomela by Tereus, Engraved by Virgil Solis, 1562 translation of the Metamorphoses) Wertenbaker’s play largely follows Ovid’s, but instead of a tapestry, Philomele creates life-sized dolls in order to act out Theseus’s crimes against her. Wertenbaker also borrows the mechanism of the chorus to bear witness and provide commentary as this excessively violent story 3 progresses towards its predetermined conclusion. Wertenbaker’s largest departure from the Metamorphosis lies in the fact that Procne and Philomele are not merely accessories in a story about a powerful man who brings about his own downfall. The relationship between sisters is centralized and their distinct personalities are developed prior to Tereus’s arrival into their lives. The ancient Greeks used tragedy to play out their worst nightmares and while they often feature complex female characters, one has to remember that these were plays written by men, for men, and performed exclusively by men in a highly patriarchal society. Wertenbaker makes her focus more equitable. This is not to say that the story is any more palatable. (490, Attic wine cup, Procne and Philomela prepare to kill Ithys) 4 Much like Medea, Nightingale is a revenge tragedy. In this genre a violent crime is committed that cannot be appropriately redressed because the perpetrator occupies a position of power. For instance, in Shakespeare’s later revenge tragedy, Hamlet cannot accuse Claudius of murder without evidence because Claudius is now the king. The disenfranchised victim takes justice into their own hands and often becomes a monster in the process. Their revenge is excessive in that it harms not just the guilty party, but innocents suffer as collateral damage. In this case Itys is horrifically murdered by his mother and aunt. (Tereus confronted with the head of Son Ithys, Oil, Paul Rubens 1636-1638) In short, the audience experiences shock and horror as the original victim becomes the victimizer. Aristotle states that most Greek tragedies center around some kind of “agon,” an argument or a thesis. Ancient Plays like Medea, Antigone, and early modern ones like Hamlet and Titus Andronicus collectively make a statement about violence begetting violence; about the dangers of robbing someone of their humanity so completely that they respond in an inhuman way. The cautionary thesis of many revenge plays seems to be the same: when you rip away someone’s 5 agency, when you violate them and rob them of their voice, terrible things happen. The plays in no way celebrate the revenge trajectory, rather they caution against lawless, vigilante justice and the chaos that the abuse of power incites. (The Rape of Philomela by Tereus Engraving, Johann Wilhelm Baur, 1703 edition of the Metamorphoses) Character Breakdown: Philomele: Philomele begins the play as a young and naïve princess of Athens. She is the energetically positive and somewhat irreverent younger sister to the more reserved Procne. While Procne is cautious and well respected, Philomele says what is on her mind without always thinking of the consequences. She is incredibly excited about all of that waits for her as she embarks on her adult life, especially love and sex. She is also infallibly loyal. Philomele promises her older sister that she will come to her whenever she is called and makes no hesitation to undertake a treacherous sea voyage to an unfamiliar land when her brother-in-law, Tereus comes to fetch her at Procne’s behest. Philomele is idealistic, and as a princess of Athens, a little bit entitled. She trusts that things will turn out right for her and that people will do what is right. This 6 makes her tragedy all the more devastating. She suffers a horrible fate, but she does not cower when faced with her attacker even when it results in further assault and violence. Philomele refuses to be a victim. Even when her tongue is removed and she is hidden away, she finds a way to speak her truth. She ultimately acts as her own avenger in a ruthless and violent way. Procne. Philomele states at one point that the Athenians admired Procne because of her dignity. At the onset of the play, Procne appears far more measured and cautious than her younger sister. She often reaches towards logic rather than emotion to solve her problems. She is the serious sister. While her younger sister cannot wait to experience sex and marriage, Procne seems to regard it as a duty; a necessary evil. Once in Thrace, she performs her role as a wife to Tereus in a perfunctory way, but she feels utterly isolated. She fails to assimilate and cannot find common ground with her women attendants. In perhaps a selfish act, she sends for her sister. Like Philomele, Procne strongly belongs in right and wrong and has little tolerance for ambiguity and deceit. Tereus: Tereus is the King of Thrace. He is a soldier, general, and absolute ruler. His men obey him without question and is used to getting what he wants whether it be through strategy and stealth or outright physical strength. He considers himself a good guy and is proficient at coming up with reasons that defend his choices. In some mythological variants, Tereus is son of the war god Ares and a Naiad named Bistonis, which may explain (but not justify) his proclivity to violence. (There is a difference between Ares- more associated with berserker rage in combat and Athena- more associated with military strategy in the Greek pantheon). Niobe: Niobe functions as Philomele’s chaperone once she embarks on her journey to Thrace. She is described as an old woman and is often the source of ridicule and entertainment amongst the sailors. She has seen much in the world, most or it tragic. We later learn that she too has been the victim of horrific violence. She had many sisters before her village was destroyed, its men killed and its women enslaved. When she seems 7 somewhat unsympathetic to Philomele later, one must also consider that she is likely a slave to the Athenian royal family, a victim of imperialism and violence in her own right. This has left her oddly resigned to what she would classify as the ways of the world; the strong will take what they want from the weak and it is better not too fight back lest you further provoke your attacker.