The Minotaur - Excerpt
The Minotaur - Excerpt
The Minotaur - Excerpt
__________________________
A one-act drama by
Carol S. Lashof
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The Minotaur © 2010 Carol S. Lashof
All rights reserved. ISBN 978-1-62088-393-8.
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SETTING
The play takes place in about 1500 BCE on the Isle of Crete.
Locations are suggested by the ensemble. The action is
continuous.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
© Carol S. Lashof
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Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
The Minotaur 7
© Carol S. Lashof
This is a perusal copy only.
Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
The Minotaur 9
© Carol S. Lashof
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10 Carol S. Lashof
IASON: Where are you going, Ariadne? Off to eat grass with
your baby brother?
(Iason grabs Ariadne by the arm.)
Why don't you stay and play with us, princess?
THE MINOTAUR: Leave her alone!
MAIA: Oh, how about that? The monster can talk. I thought
he could only say "moo." Moo-oo, Moo-oo.
(Several other children join Maia in circling The Minotaur and
"mooing" at him.)
IASON: The king should have left him to die when he was a
baby. That's what you're supposed to do with monsters. If I
was the King—
CAENEUS: If you were the king, I'd feel sorry for Crete.
You'd be too stupid to notice how stupid you were.
IASON: I'd be smart enough not to make Poseidon angry. If
Poseidon sent me a white bull from the sea—
PHILOMELE: I wish I'd seen the white bull. Everybody says
it was the most beautiful creature they've ever seen. And it
rose out of the sea covered in foam, and its horns were silver,
or maybe pearl.
IASON: No matter how amazing it was, I would have
sacrificed it to the gods.
PHILOMELE: Shhh. You shouldn't say things like that.
IASON: I'm only saying that when you don't do what the
gods tell you to do...
MAIA: It's true. When the gods give you a gift, you should
know how to be grateful. You should make the proper
sacrifices. Or maybe you deserve what you get.
CAENEUS: Careful, Maia. If the king heard you...
© Carol S. Lashof
This is a perusal copy only.
Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
The Minotaur 11
© Carol S. Lashof
This is a perusal copy only.
Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
12 Carol S. Lashof
PHILOMELE: All the handsomest boys and the prettiest
girls...
IASON: Every nine years, seven youths and seven maidens
will sail from Athens to Crete. And they'll enter the maze—
CAENEUS: The labyrinth of Daedalus!
IASON: And they'll never come out.
CAENEUS: If this north wind keeps up, they could be here
tonight.
(Ariadne is locked between the arms of a pair of children. She
breaks away and faces her tormentors.)
ARIADNE: Yes, I know! Everyone knows. Athens must pay
blood tribute to Crete—fourteen young men and women to be
shut up in the labyrinth until they die. But what does that
have to do with me? Or with Asterion.
MAIA: (Indicating The Minotaur:) Don't you know? The
labyrinth will be his prison too.
ARIADNE: No! That's nonsense.
(The Minotaur snarls and lowers his head as if to charge.
Ariadne speaks to him softly.)
It's ridiculous. She's making it up.
MAIA: There's to be a special chamber for him in the very
center of the maze.
ARIADNE: (To The Minotaur:) Don't listen to her.
CAENEUS: There will be miles and miles of passages within
passages...
PHILOMELE: More twists and turns than a tangle of thread...
© Carol S. Lashof
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The Minotaur 13
MAIA: And the beauty of it is, no matter what path the Greek
murderers take, it will lead them straight to the monster in the
heart of the maze!
IASON: And then the Minotaur will devour them—
CAENEUS: And spit out their bones!
THE MINOTAUR: First, I'll devour you. I'll spit out your
bones!
(Ariadne tries to come between Iason and her brother.)
ARIADNE: (To The Minotaur:) Ignore them. They're only
trying to make you mad.
IASON: He'll gobble up every last Athenian. The boys first,
and the girls for dessert. A fourteen-course feast.
ARIADNE: He's not a monster. He doesn't eat human flesh.
IASON: He'll eat it or starve.
MAIA: If he's hungry enough, he might eat you.
IASON: Unless you're a monster as well, too tough to chew.
CAENEUS: Let's see if you're a monster. Let's have a look at
your horns.
(Caeneus advances on Ariadne.)
ARIADNE: I don't have horns!
IASON: (Also advancing on Ariadne:) Show us.
ARIADNE: (Trying unsuccessfully to fend them off:) Leave me
alone! Stop it! Let go!
IASON: If you're really not a monster, then what have you got
to be afraid of?
(The Minotaur bellows fearsomely and charges at Maia and
Iason. They retreat to a safe distance but then stop and look for
© Carol S. Lashof
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14 Carol S. Lashof
stones to throw. Most of the other children run away but one
small child falls. The Minotaur advances and seems about to
gore the child. Ariadne grabs hold of her brother's arm.)
ARIADNE: Asterion! No. Don't. Please!
(The Minotaur stops short of attacking the child, who gets up
and runs away, along with Maia, Iason, and the rest of their
compatriots. Phaedra remains on stage unseen by Ariadne and
The Minotaur. They brush themselves off and catch their
breath.)
THE MINOTAUR: Are you all right?
ARIADNE: Yes. Are you?
THE MINOTAUR: Yes. But...I had that dream again last
night. About the labyrinth.
ARIADNE: Oh.
THE MINOTAUR: Even when I'm far up in the hills, inside a
cave, I can hear them building it. Especially at night. When
everything is quiet. I dreamed they were building it for me.
ARIADNE: It was only a dream.
THE MINOTAUR: But what if the things we know in dreams
turn out to be true?
ARIADNE: Everything Maia was saying, she only says it to
upset you. If you don't let it bother you, she'll leave you alone.
(Pause.) The labyrinth is a prison for the Athenians. That's all.
THE MINOTAUR: How do you know that? How do you
know it's not for me too?
ARIADNE: Because she's a liar. Everybody knows that. And
because Father wouldn't do that. I know he wouldn't.
THE MINOTAUR: King Minos doesn't believe that he is my
father.
© Carol S. Lashof
This is a perusal copy only.
Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
The Minotaur 15
© Carol S. Lashof
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16 Carol S. Lashof
THE MINOTAUR: I know you love me, Ariadne. But what if
there's nothing you can do to save me? (Pause.) Or what if it's
too late?
ARIADNE: When I am queen, you will live in the palace with
me. You'll have the best room in the palace, as many servants
as you want to wait on you. You'll have the best ship in the
harbor, whatever you want to eat and drink—
THE MINOTAUR: Let's run away.
ARIADNE: Run away?
THE MINOTAUR: Yes, now, before they come for me. Let's
sail away. I'm tired of waiting for things to change.
ARIADNE: But this is our home.
THE MINOTAUR: No. It's your home.
(Pause.)
ARIADNE: Where would we go? If we ran away.
THE MINOTAUR: Anywhere. Anywhere we could be safe.
Anywhere we could be together.
ARIADNE: (Gently mocking:) Sure. We'll sail away to a desert
island and raise sheep. We'll be king and queen of the cattle.
THE MINOTAUR: Don't. Don't tease me.
ARIADNE: I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that. Really.
Nothing matters more to me than you do, Asterion.
THE MINOTAUR: Not even being queen?
ARIADNE: Not more. No. Of course not.
THE MINOTAUR: But it means a lot to you.
ARIADNE: Yes. Because when I'm queen, we can do what we
want, we can live however we want to live. No one will be
able to hurt us.
© Carol S. Lashof
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Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
The Minotaur 17
© Carol S. Lashof
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18 Carol S. Lashof
ARIADNE: Phaedra! What are you doing here? Were you
eavesdropping?
PHAEDRA: I was listening. You should spend more time
listening. Instead of playing games in the woods and hiding
in caves. You would learn things. Things the heir to the
throne of Crete should know.
ARIADNE: Like what?
PHAEDRA: Like what people say about you, for instance.
ARIADNE: I don't care what they say about me.
PHAEDRA: They say you are bringing shame to the kingdom
by running around like a wild animal, keeping company with
monsters.
ARIADNE: Why should I care? It doesn't matter what they
think.
PHAEDRA: Doesn't it even matter what they think about
him? About The Minotaur?
ARIADNE: He has a name.
PHAEDRA: In the Athenian court, he is known as "The
terrible Minotaur of Crete." A monster who must be fed on
human flesh. Which is why they believe they must send their
young men and women to be sacrificed. Or else King Minos
will have the fearsome beast brought to Athens to be set loose.
Better to deliver just fourteen youths and maidens to their
death each year than for the monster to ravage the entire
country.
ARIADNE: But that makes no sense. As soon as they get here,
as soon as they see him, they'll know he's not what they've
been told. And then—
© Carol S. Lashof
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The Minotaur 19
© Carol S. Lashof
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22 Carol S. Lashof
THESEUS: I am Theseus, son of King Aegeus, your majesty.
KING: Aegeus is a fool to be so careless of his son's life. His
only son. Or perhaps you are an imposter?
THESEUS: My father sent this token with me, so you would
know I come here with his blessing and as the true heir to the
throne of Athens.
(Theseus is wearing a signet ring which he now removes and
holds out. A soldier takes the ring from Theseus and hands it to
the King, who examines it.)
KING: True son or no, Aegeus will never again see you alive.
THESEUS: I give myself into the keeping of the gods. If I earn
their favor, they will send home a son worthy of a noble
father.
KING: The gods do not favor the sons of murderers!
(Angrily, the King throws the ring to the ground. It rolls near
to Phaedra, who first looks to see if anyone is watching and then
quickly picks it up.)
THESEUS: My father is no murderer.
KING: Tell that to the beast inside the maze! Tomorrow at
dawn, Theseus, you shall enter the labyrinth. Alone. If you
do not reappear by sunset—with the head of The Minotaur—
then your companions will follow you into the maze.
THESEUS: And what if I emerge victorious? What then?
KING: Name the prize and you shall have it. Gold? Ships?
My daughter's hand in marriage?
THESEUS: Freedom. I want freedom for Athens from Minoan
rule. And from all our debts to Crete.
KING: Freedom?! For that tribe of ungrateful savages? They
wouldn't know what to do with it.
© Carol S. Lashof
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Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
The Minotaur 23
© Carol S. Lashof
This is a perusal copy only.
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24 Carol S. Lashof
THE MINOTAUR: I don't want to be alone.
ARIADNE: You won't be. Not forever. One day it will be safe
for you to come back. One day I'll send word. Wherever you
are, I'll find you. And you'll come home. (Pause.) But for now,
you have to leave. Go down to the harbor, steal a boat. You
can be a mile away before anyone knows you're gone. And I
have to go back to the banquet, or else they'll come looking for
me, and then—
THE MINOTAUR: I won't leave without you.
ARIADNE: But you have to! You have to go now.
THE MINOTAUR: No.
ARIADNE: Did you know that Theseus is here? He wants to
slay the famous Minotaur. He wants to prove that he really is
the long-lost son of Aegeus.
THE MINOTAUR: Theseus? (Mocking:) The great Athenian
hero has come to Crete to fight me?
ARIADNE: Yes! He's been killing bandits and ogres all up
and down the coast of Greece.
THE MINOTAUR: And now he wants to kill me?
ARIADNE: Yes, so you see—
THE MINOTAUR: Let him try.
ARIADNE: What?
THE MINOTAUR: I'll be happy to fight him. To do battle
with Theseus.
ARIADNE: But he'll kill you.
THE MINOTAUR: Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I'll kill him.
That would please Father, wouldn't it? If I were to kill the son
of Aegeus?
© Carol S. Lashof
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Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
The Minotaur 25
© Carol S. Lashof
This is a perusal copy only.
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26 Carol S. Lashof
ARIADNE: Phaedra! What are you doing here?
PHAEDRA: Looking for you. What do you think? I came to
warn you, about the soldiers—
ARIADNE: They've already come.
PHAEDRA: Were you in time to warn Asterion?
ARIADNE: He refused to run away. As soon as he heard that
Theseus had come to Crete to fight him—
PHAEDRA: Theseus will kill him!
ARIADNE: I know. I told him that. But—
PHAEDRA: Not that it will make any difference. So what if
Theseus slays the monster? He won't be able to get out of the
labyrinth. He'll wander forever until he dies of thirst and
hunger.
ARIADNE: Phaedra! The "monster" is your brother!
PHAEDRA: I know!
ARIADNE: Then why are you fretting about Theseus?
PHAEDRA: I'm not.
ARIADNE: It sounded like you were. (Pause.) I saw you pick
up his ring.
PHAEDRA: So?
ARIADNE: You care more about that stranger than you do
about your own brother!
© Carol S. Lashof
This is a perusal copy only.
Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.