THE MEMORY OF SALT by Lisa Maurizio Lewiston ME 04240 [email protected] The Memory of Salt borrows many of its elements, most notably a chorus, from ancient Greek tragedy and medieval Japanese Noh drama. In Greek tragedy, the chorus interacts with the main characters and has a distinct identity; for example, its members might be female servants of the king or town elders. In Noh drama, on the other hand, the chorus does not have an identity. The chorus sits, as it sings and sometimes speaks for the main characters who recite their adventures to the accompaniment several onstage musicians. The Noh chorus invokes an overall mood rather than acts. The Memory of Salt uses the chorus in both ways. The chorus here has a distinct identity. They are salt maidens, modeled on characters from a famous Noh drama called Matsukaze, and they speak with the main characters. Through dance, they invoke the mood and atmosphere of the play’s setting which is decidedly Greek. Memory is set at the fall of Troy, a legendary city from Greek mythology that was often the subject of Greek tragedy. Euripides wrote a play called Hecuba from which this play borrows its setting and two characters, namely Hecuba, the Queen of Troy, and Odysseus, one of the Greek warriors who fought at Troy. Lampros, the other main character in Memory, is loosely modeled on a historical Greek philosopher named Heraclitus, not on a mythical character. The Memory of Salt fuses both Greek and Japanese characters and choruses to tell the story of how human desire and sympathy survive in the aftermath of a war. As Hecuba tries to reconcile herself to her losses and Odysseus tries to serve his own interests, Lampros tries to protect himself from their potentially dangerous encounter. Copyrighted by Lisa Maurizio This script is available for performance and production on the condition that the author is acknowledged and notified. Changes to the script require the author’s permission. THE MEMORY OF SALT CHARACTERS Queen Hecuba of Troy old woman Lampros, Trojan Boatman old man Boy, son of Lampros young boy Odysseus man Helenus, Trojan priest young man Chorus of Salt maidens young women 2 Act I Salt maiden 1 Our bay lies below the city of Troy that stands high on the ridge. Here we live in thatched salt makers' huts and pull our cart day after day. Salt maiden 2 We listen to the plover's cry and the wind as it captures the sounds of Troy's daily life and deposits them as silt in our bay. Salt maiden 1 Lovers' whispers, prayers at altars, the market's barter, children's laughter, pledges, stammers, pronouncements in court, broken vowsÑ Salt maiden 2 We listen to Troy's voice blow down from the ridge as we pull our cart. Salt maiden 1 We make salt for the Trojans, and for the Greeks, who came to Troy ten summers ago. Salt maiden 2 In a parade of white linen sails they followed our prince Alexander whose ship carried Helen on its prow. Queen, mother, wife of Greek Menelaus, king of Sparta. Salt maiden 1 Was she prize, captive, goods exchanged abroad? Salt maiden 2 She was Alexander's new bride, the Greek ships her attendants. 3 Salt maiden 1 When her foot touched our shores she married all of Troy to Greece in ten years of war for her return. Salt maiden 2 In our bay below the ridge of Troy, gulls dip into marsh grasses, their greedy beaks crying out "I am hungry." Greek and Trojan alike collect the salt we make from seaweed, brine and fire. Salt maiden 1 For the Trojans at peace, and now for the Greeks at war, the wheels of our cart turn round as we haul our buckets of water to the kiln in the west. Salt maiden 2 Our sleeves grow damp and heavy. Glassy sand brush our feet as we walk in the wheels' ruts. The waves rub out our tracks Salt maiden 1 just as the Greeks rubbed out Troy last night when they pierced the city's thick walls. Salt maiden 2 At first you would think an evening's festival had begun. Sparks of light and shouts filled the skies. Salt maiden 1 But then you could hear that the edges of shouts were frayed with terror and that fire crackled as it raced across the roofs 4 of bedrooms where the young slept. The air became cloudy and filled lungs with smoke. Salt maiden 2 Did those sleepy children hear their mothers say, "Wrap yourself in my wet clothes. Flee this burning house, this burning city," and cry, " Child, I do not want you to die"? Salt maiden 1 By morning the wind howled less and began to lilt. Greek commands and congratulations blustered through the harbor all day. Salt maiden 2 Now twilight saddens our heart as we listen to the wind. Ash-filled, echoing with high-pitched dirges above the day's joyous baritones, the wind carries the voices of Trojan women. Salt maiden 1 The waves repeat their mournful tunes and tell us what we already know. Salt maiden 2 Troy has become a dream. Like foam on water, already it has disappeared. Salt maiden 1 One voice, louder and stronger than all the others, leads the chorus of women. Salt maiden 2 Queen Hecuba cries for her youngest son, Polydorus, who died far from Troy's fires and lies unburied. Salt maiden 1 Her voice rises and falls, indifferent to the world around it. As it approaches, my heart loses its own steady rhythym. 5 Hecuba enters. Hecuba My child, my son where are you? Did I let you fly from my nest? Was I so foolish as to give my last child to another king? We reasoned that under King Polymestor's protection in Thrace you would be safer than in Troy. Our gold would buy your safe return. But Troy’s defeat destroyed all hope of gold and threatened your short life Thrace. You became King Polymestor's way of showing that he harbors no secret reasons for the war-lusting Greeks to go north. Perhaps you can forgive a man for such calculations. Perhaps you can forgive a man for murder. But why did Polymestor not return you to me so that I can bury you, as I have all your brothers and sisters. First Mestor, then freckled Pammon, even Hector, the most brave, the most just, and small Isus, Nineteen sons! And last night my son Agathon. Grabbing handfuls of his hair as it spilled out of his helmet, I remembered that hair grows even after death and braided his shining black locks. Chorus joins together or individually Rocking and pulling and twisting and holding rocking and pulling and twisting and holding, forward and back and over, forward and back and over. Just this morning, I braided my daughter Polyxena's hair, as though she were still that young girl playing in my courtyard, 6 not a maiden just now slaughtered at the tomb of a lonely Greek soldier. And before her all the others, fair Kreousa, sweet Laodice, pregnant Iliona. Every child I have made, I have buried, What I have brought to light, I have carried to darkness. remembering always the scent of their hairÑ except one, except Polydorus. Alone and unburied, he lies north in Thrace. I hear him weeping for me in the wind. Mother, I am cold. The sun seems far away and I cannot warm my hands. My sweetest smallest child, Where have you gone? Did I drop you from my nest? It is evening. The moon casts its silvery glow. I dream of honeyed cheese and apples. Mother, I am hungry. Wherever you are, child, I will find you. I will feed you rose-water sweets. You will nestle in my breast. I cannot move my legs and leave this place. What is this sleep that lasts longer than night? Do I look for you only in dreams, mother? My little one, my child. Where have you gone? I will warm you in marsh grasses. I will build you a safe nest. 7 Boy tentatively approaches. Child? My child? Do the gods hear us when we weep? Come closer. Let me look at you and hold you so that I know you are real. Come! Come here to your mother. Boy Mother? I have only a father, Lampros, the ferryman. Can you really build a nest? Hecuba Lampros, the Trojan ferryman? Boy Yes. He's my father and we sleep there, in his boat. Hecuba Your father carries food to those Greek ships, doesn't he? Boy I help him. Maybe I can help you make a nest. I helped my father make this boat. It is just like the very first boat Kateki invented thousands of years ago when he saw a spider sitting on a leaf. To invent a boat was a very clever idea, my father says. Hecuba Very clever. What does your father say about the Greek boats in this bay? Boy Last night he said if the Greeks burned Troy and the whole world, everything would become smoke. Then noses would be kings and judges!i 8 Hecuba Does your father speak about things other than noses? Boy What is built up falls down and what falls down is built up.ii That's what he said this morning, when we heard the walls of Troy crash down. You look old and important. Hecuba I am old and important.