Odysseus has traveled over the waters, flirted with disaster, and bested every foe. And his friends and family hate him for it.
As Odysseus tries to escape a fateful prophecy, he faces a murderous son, a semi-devoted wife, a scorned sea-witch, a boy with a cow, the cow itself, and a Greek chorus all trying to make sense of their lives when everything has always revolved around Odysseus. Surprisingly adapted from the fragments of a lost Sophocles play, Odysseus Dies at the End examines the life of a legend from the perspective of the people clinging to his coattails. Spoiler alert: he dies at the end.
Weston Scott has given his permission for licensees to cut lines and/or scenes as necessary to meet festival or competition's time requirements without seeking prior approval from Uproar. Lines must still be performed sequentially as written, and words may not be changed or substituted without prior written approval.
When you’re a member of a Greek Chorus, your job is to essentially watch the wildest days in the life of royalty. And this day is itching to be a big one: Odysseus is finally returning home for the last time, and his son Telemachus wants to kill him, and the sea witch Circe wants to kill him, and his secret son Telegonus wants to meet him but also has been tasked with killing him, and his wife Penelope is searching all over the isle of Ithaca to find him first. All typical stuff for a member of a Greek Chorus to watch and observe, until one of them gets pulled into the story herself.
Dragged into the story to play a minor role, she gets a taste of what it’s like to be around someone as powerful, as observed, as narratively relevant as Odysseus. Instead of returning to the Chorus, she decides to do whatever she can to remain a character--and a person--for the rest of her life. When helping out Odysseus doesn’t work, she resigns herself to betraying him instead, hoping to gain immortality through her infamy rather than her loyalty. When she realizes that her friendship with Odysseus matters more than her personal success, she tries to save him once and for all. But, when the play is called “Odysseus Dies at the End”, you can only do so much, you know? At the end of the play, she drifts back into the Chorus. As do we all, in our time.
