The Odyssey
adopted by Marta Barroso
1. Odysseus
2. Poseidon -voice
3. Antiklos - soldier
4. Antiphus- soldier
5. Polites - soldier
6. Eurylochus - soldier
7. Polyphar - cyclop
8. Alcinous - king
9. Telemachus – Odysseus’s son
10. Eumaeus – an old servant
11. Suitor 1
12. Suitor 2
13. Suitor3
14. Suitor 4
15. Hermes - god
16. Aeolus – god of the wind
17. Siren 1
18. Siren 2
19. Siren 3
20. Siren 4
21. Siren 5
22. Athena - goddess
23. Penelope – Odysseus’s wife
24. Circe – a wich
25. Calypso - nymph
26. Nausica – Alcinous daughter
27. Maid
1
Scene 1
Voice: This day was the proudest day of my life. My sweet Penelope and the gods had given me a son. But at the
same moment, the world we had built together was changed forever. My beloved Greece entered the war
against Troy ... The most powerful of kings, Agamemnon and Menelaus himself, Came for me. Bound by my
oath of allegiance and honor me dictating to protect my country, I was forced to leave my home, not knowing if
I would see my wife ever ... and my child. I am Odysseus, king of Ithaca. And this is my story.
Odysseus: Gather the crew. We leave for Troy. The gods are with us! Athena, my goddess, you have always
protected me. But today you remain silent. Is there a way to avoid this war? Talk to me.
Penelope: No tears?
Odysseus: No tears.
Penelope: Troy will not fall easily.
Odysseus: I love you! If ever I did not return ...
Penelope: You will! Do not even say the word!
Odysseus: You must allow me to die inside of your memory. You'll always be my wife. You choose another.
And you will marry. Yes!
Penelope: I love you!
Odysseus: I will return safe and sound ...
Penelope: I will wait.
Odysseus: Polites! Play a song of farewell! Antiphus! Hoist the sail!
Scene2
Odysseus: You are no longer with me, Athena. And rightly so ... I can handle alone.
Athena : Is this a way of speaking your nearest protective?
Odysseus: Athena!
Athena : I tease you. You are angry with me.
Odysseus: You could convince Agamemnon, the day of the birth of my son!
Athena : I am a goddess! I have other duties! I do not want you escape this journey, because I wanted you to
leave. I want to be you, brave Ulysses, who defeated the Trojans. No, your destiny is to battle to become
immortal! Your name will be on the lips of all future generations!
Not require that future generations will remember my name!
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Athena : Odysseus! You cannot lie to me! I know your true character! I know your pride ... Your vanity. You'll
have to defeat the Trojans. You must be brave Odysseus.
Odysseus : I will not fear ... As long as you are with me.
Scene 3
Voice: Year after year we fought against Troy. I stood alongside the mighty Achilles, The most fierce Trojan
warrior, and his troops. Thousands of men died but the endless war came to an end. Troy was defeated.
Odysseus : See, the gods of Heaven and the Sea! I conquered Troy! Me, Odysseus! I am irresistible!
Poseidon :Odysseus, why are you challenging me?
Odysseus : Who are you?
Poseidon : It's me, Poseidon,
Odysseus : For ten years, you played with us as with toys. For ten years, you left your shores drink the blood!
Poseidon : But they are my servants who have reduced to silence Laocoon when your horse was doomed. Now
you refuse to thank me. You forget that men are nothing without the gods. For this offense, you will know
suffering. Because of your arrogance, you will be tossed on the sea for eternity. You will never see again Ithaca.
Odysseus : You cannot stop!
Poseidon : You will know pain Odysseus!
Scene 4
Voice: Victorious, confident, I left Troy. My thoughts flew to my home. I had not seen for ten years. Poseidon
did not wait for revenge. For months, he plunged into the sea mist. Separated from the rest of the fleet ... I was
lost.
Odysseus : Antiklos?
Antiklos: Nothing in sight, the fog!
Odysseus : Antiphus!
Antiphus: Earth is the earth!
Odysseus : This is not Ithaca.
Politis: If men live here, they will tell us where we are.
Antiklos: Let others go, master, and join them if they cross someone.
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Antiphus: Sheep or goats.
Odysseus : Eurylochus.. Stay close to the boat.
Politis: I won! An empty cave ...lots of cheese!
Antiphus: It is good!
Politis: They keep the sheep in the cave with them.
Antiklos: No tools ...
Politis: No weapons.
Antiklos: We will exchange it against water.
Antiphus: Let's see the shepherds.
Politis: We are only soldiers ...We got lost. Yes, we ... As your hosts, we ... We should have ...
Odysseus : According to the laws of hospitality.
Polyphar : Here, we have no laws! We do what we want!
Odysseus : Are you alone?
Polyphar: No, my brothers occupy the large caves.
Odysseus : Where are your parents?
Polyphar : Our mother is a nymph. Our father is the mighty Poseidon.
Odysseus : Poseidon ...
Polyphar : I am the youngest, Polyphar they call me. What have you brought?
Politis: Brought? We thought that ... If you share a few sheep ... we could prepare you a feast.
Polyphar: I love meat!
Odysseus : No!
Polyphar: Why not?
Odysseus : Because men do not eat them.
Polyphar: The Cyclops, do! Who's next?
Odysseus : If you kill me, you destroy all the secrets of the world!
Polyphar: What secrets?
Odysseus : Antiklos, wine!
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Polyphar: What is it?
Odysseus : Wine. This is the drink of the gods!
Odysseus : Taste!
Polyphar: I like that! Another! What is your name?
Odysseus : My name?
Antiklos: It is the king of ...
Odysseus : My name is Nobody. More wine, please. Polites play! In silence, push! Come on, push!
Polyphar: What have you done? I see nothing! Help! Help me, I cannot see! My brothers! He blinded me!
Nobody blinded me! Where are you? Where are you? I'll kill you and eat you piece by piece! Where are you?
I'll get you! Where are you? I catch you! I hear you! Where are you? Where are you? What happened?
Odysseus: Man your oars!
Eurylochus: What happened? What happened?
Polites: A monster!
Odysseus: You hear me, Poseidon? I'm alive! Odysseus is alive and you can stop it!
Scene 5
Voice: We sailed for months from Cyclop islands towards the setting sun. Desperate for water to drink we
approached another unknown land.
Aeolus : You're surprised? Admit it! I see that you are surprised!
Odysseus : Who are you?
Aeolus : I’m Aeolus, god of the winds. This is my island, where gentle breezes all begin Do not be afraid.
Come here!
Odysseus : You know me?
Aeolus : Everyone knows Odysseus the great hero who built the Trojan horse. But ...few Greeks know that
you're the only who cannot go home.
Odysseus : Poseidon still believes he can stop me.
Aeolus : Poseidon, Poseidon, Poseidon this, Poseidon that. He is a bully. He is arrogant, he is selfish. He forgets
that see is nothing without the wind and guess who is the god of wind? It's me. We'll show him! Give me that.
Give me that ...
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Odysseus : Thank you.
Aeolus : We'll show him. These winds ... Full of mischief! I left only the west wind free. In nine days they will
bring your ship and you to Ithaca. And now ...Catch!
Odysseus : Why do you help me?
Aeolus : Because you are the first mortal who uses his brain! And you understand there is always something to
learn! Now go!
Antiphus: We found water, and he ... he found gold.
Antiklos : Or better yet!
Odysseus: No. I'll tell you what's inside. Once we're in Ithaca, not before.
Scene 6
Voice: Soon, Aeolus had promised me ... Soon I will see my Penelope, my son, my homeland.
Antiphus: He finally fell asleep!
Antiklos : Then we must open the sack!
Antiphus: It must be full of treasure!
Antiklos : Politis!
Politis: But I want my share.
Antiklos : Perimedes?
Eurylochus: You can’t open it, it belongs to the master.
Antiklos : What is the master is ours!
Antiphus: I just want to see it.
Antiklos : Me too.
Eurylochus: Ithaca! Ithaca!
Antiklos : Ithaca! We're home!
Eurylochus: I must wake the master!
Antiphus: No. Once we're there, we cannot anymore see what's in the sack!
Eurylochus: Master!
Antiphus: Hurry!
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Antiklos : Silence!
Antiphus: Go!
Antiklos : Not easy to open.
Odysseus: What have you done? What have you done?
Eurylochus: Bring the seil! Bring the seil!
Odysseus: I told you not to open prior to Ithaca! Not before Ithaca! What have you done? Poor fools! You have
betrayed me! Poor fools! You have betrayed me!
Scene 7
Voice: But hope to hold in my arms at last Penelope ...was swept away by the fury of the raging winds. Carried
away by the storm ...all our food and our water lost ...Now we were stranded ...on the far side of the world.
Some god must have guided us in, for we came into a cove without a sound. I climbed a rocky point and saw a
wisp of smoke woodland hall. I sent half of my men off to explore, but late that day only one returned.
Eurylochus: Our friends are lost- are gone!
Odysseus: Speak Eurylochus, what happened?
Eurylochus: We went up through the forest where you sent us until we found a palace, in a glade, a marvelous
stone lay wolves and mountain lions, animals of all kinds- but none attacked.
Odysseus: What next?
Eurylochus: There was a woman inside; she called to us. They followed her like sheep! Only I was afraid and
hid outside by the entrance. None of our friends came out of that house. I waited for hours; only swine filled the
yard!
Odysseus: Take me back the way you came.
Eurylochus: Not back there, O my lord! Oh, leave me here!
Odysseus: By heaven, Eurylochus, rest here then, but let me go.
Voice: I turned and left him to find the subtle witch, but Hermes met me, with his golden wand.
Hermes: Odysseus, what do you think you’re doing? Wandering all alone on this strange island? Your friends
are turned to pigs in Circe’s house and you will be too if you don’t listen.
Odysseus: What should I do?
Hermes: Her charm is in her golden Pramian wine. Take this; it’s an antidote.
Odysseus: Through the island trees I sought out Circe, my heart high with excitement, beating hard.
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Circe: Welcome, dear stranger. Welcome to my home! Come in, come in, don’t mind the swine.
Odysseus: Thank you.
Circe: May I offer you some golden Pramian wine?
Odysseus: Thank you very kindly.
Circe: Drink up.
Odysseus: I will.
Circe: Down in the sty and snore among the rest! I said, Down in the sty and snore among the rest!
Odysseus: Release my men this instant from your charms or I will cut this fair throat of yours!
Circe: How did you resist my spell? You can’t be mortal! Zeus will not approve of one god behaving this way
to another!
Odysseus: I assure you, lady, I am human as my men, or as they will be when you release themCirce: Odysseus? I was told one day you’d come to visit me; Hermes said your black ship would bring you
here. Put up your sword, put your weapon in its sheath. Son of Laertes, master mariner, enough of weeping fits!
Your cruel wandering is all you think of, never of joy, after so many blows. Stay here and rest, Odysseus.
Voice: I could not help consenting. So day-by-day we lingered, until a year grew fat. But in the pause of
summer, my shipmates summoned me and said:
Sailor: Captain shake off this trance and think of home.
Circe: Son of Lartres, you shall not stay against your will, but listen to me now: you will never come to see your
hall on Ithaca unless you take a strange way around.
Odysseus: What way is that?
Circe: Come along: listen to what I say. Square in your ship’s path are Sirens, singing to bewitch men coasting
by- woe to the innocent who hears that sound! - He will never see his home or lady again; the Sirens will lure
his mind away. Bones of dead men are rotting in a pile beside them.
Odysseus: Might I not contrive a way to hear that song, and yet escape the danger?
Circe: Plug your oarsmen’s ears with beeswax, and have them bind you to the mast. Shout as you will to be
untied your crew must only twist more line around you until the singer’s voices fade.
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Scene 8
Voice: I made straight for the ship and roused the men. They scrambled to their places by the rowlocks. We
pulled away from Circe’s island, but soon enough the wind fell, and a calm came over all the sea. Plug up your
ears and tie me down! The sirens have begun!
Siren 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: Come here, renowned Odysseus and listen to our voices.
No one ever sailed past us without staying to hear the enchanting sweetness of our song
and he who listens will go on his way not only charmed, but wiser,
for we know everything and can tell you everything that is going to happen over the whole world.
Everything, You do is so important.
Oh, you big, big sad poor tired, tired men.
You big, sad poor tired, tired men!
Oh you big, big sad poor tired, tired men!
My face, my face is nothing but a mirror,
my arms, my arms are nothing but a cradle,
myself, my self is nothing.
You’re perfect the way you are. Don’t change.
Scene 9
Voice: Winter gave way to spring when we reached the Straits of Scylla and Charybdis. After sixteen years of
tests, nothing frightens us, my warriors and me. But we had never seen what we saw between the rocks.
Polites: Antiklos ...
Antiklos: Light a torch.
Antiphus: There is nothing here!
A torch! Give me a torch!
Eurylochus: Politis!
Odysseus: Scylla! Go! The oars! Stay on this side! if you want to live! Politis, hold on!
Polites: Master!
Odysseus: Antiklos?
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Scene 10
Voice: Alone, I drifted My men lost before my eyes ...I drifted aimlessly for days on the sea of Poseidon ...
wondering when he would take my life.
Odysseus: People ... Where am I?
Calypso: You're safe.
Odysseus: I need water.
Calypso: Bring him water!
Odysseus: I need a ship.
Calypso: There are none here. No one comes or goes from my island.
Odysseus: I have ... I must find the way to go home.
Calypso: You are home. Please. Do not mind my maids. You're the first man they see in their lives. Myself, I
have not seen for over a hundred years!
Odysseus: You are a goddess ...
Calypso: I am Calypso. Come! Rest. This is only a dream. That's true.
Odysseus: My men ... my brothers. All dead.
Calypso: You have to forget.
Odysseus: No.
Calypso: Forget!
Voice: For two more years Calypso’s island was my prison. Forgotten by the outside world, abandoned by
Athena my hope to see Penelope began to faint.
Calypso: Hermes...
Hermes: In person! Oh Calypso is not overjoyed to see me
Calypso: Get out of here!
Hermes: Calypso! I’m only a messenger. You keep a man prisoner.
Calypso: I gave him a home!
Hermes: The fate of Ulysses is not to end his days on your island. You are to give him his freedom
immediately.
Calypso: It is I who pulled him from the sea! Who have dressed his wounds! You're all jealous of my
happiness!
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Hermes: Beware anger of Zeus! Give this man his freedom ...or your island will be engulfed in the depths of
the sea salt!
Calypso: Go home to your Penelope.
Odysseus: Why? A ship docked?
Calypso: No. Now go! Swim! I do not care! I do not want to see you!
Odysseus: You want me to leave?
Calypso: You’re going home. I have pondered it and I shall help you go. Come and cut down high timber for a
raft so you can ride her on the misty sea. Come I’ll help you—
Odysseus: After all these years, A helping hand?
Calypso: Come Odysseus, my heart is not a piece of stone.
Scene 11
Voice: For seventeen nights and days I sailed to open sea without incident. But on the eighteenth, the dark
shoreline of Phaecia appeared.
Poseidon: Always in trouble, all over the seas, wherever you go, Odysseus!
Odysseus: Poseidon What do you want?! What do you wat from me?
Poseidon I want you to suffer
Odysseus: I have nothing. All what is left is my life.
Poseidon My goal is not to kill you. You must understand.
Odysseus: What do you want me to understand
Poseidon That without gods man is nothing!
Scene 12
Voice: I was alive, broken by Poseidon waves, but still alive
Maid: Come and see!
Odysseus: What country have I come to now?
Maid: Human or divine? Seemed somewhat like a god
Nausica: But also like a drowned cat.
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Odysseus: Mistress, please, are you a goddess or a girl?
Nausica: Hush stranger! It’s clear to me you have no evil in you. You’ve come to the land of the
Phaecians, And I, myself, am Nausica, daughter of our king Alcinous. While you’re here, we’ll give you
everything.
Alcinous: My friends, how lucky we are. The gods have blessed us with a guest, to entertain and to serve—
Who knows? Perhaps he is a god himself.
Odysseus: Alcinous, you may set your mind at rest.
Alcinous: I have shared my food with you. Now you may share your name with me.
Odysseus: I cannot. My name has long been cursed.
Alcinous: I know only one long lost hero that could have survived a curse from the gods. It is Odysseus.
Odysseus: I am he.
Alcinous: I never dreamt I’d meet Odysseus in person! It is an honor! For the Phaeacia! A hero like Odysseus
of Ithaca seat among us! I'll give you the best of my ships heavy with gifts and food, and the best sailors
Phaeacia, to sail you home!
Scene 13
Voice: The Phaeacians carried me towards Ithaca but it was Poseidon who allowed me to continue my journey
to consider his words. I understood that I was a man, among many others. Nothing more and nothing less.
Odysseus: Eumaeus!
Eumaeus: Master!
Telemachus: Eumaeus!
Odysseus: Who is it?
Eumaeus It’s your son. Telemachus! You've changed!
Telemachus: Tell me, how is my mother?
Eumaeus: She will be happy to see you again. But come! Tell me about your trip!
Telemachus: Later, I must go and see her.
Odysseus: Telemachus!
Telemachus: Who is it? Who is there?
Odysseus: It's your father.
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Telemachus: How dare you say those words? You cannot be my father. Odysseus is dead!
Odysseus: Odysseus is alive ... and it is before you.
Telemachus: Do not approach!
Odysseus: You are my son ...
Telemachus: Father ...
Odysseus: My son ...
Telemachus: You will not recognize your house. When you see what they have done!
Odysseus: The hour of battle has not yet come. Anger is easy ... but it can turn against a man ...
Telemachus: Father, how can the two of us defeat a house full of men?
Odysseus: It’s true, we only have two allies, but their names are Zeus and Athena…
Athena: I shall never leave it; you’ll go forward under my arm when the moment comes and I foresee your vast
floor stained with blood. – Now for a while I shall transform you.
Scene 14
Suitor 1: Prince Telemachus ...
Suitor 2: Welcome!
Suitor 3: The gods have returned safe and sound.
Suitor 4: He went to fetch his father and found a lousy beggar!
Suitor 1: Tell us, why have you abandoned your research?
Telemachus: I went to nearest Sparta where King Menelaus told me ...
Suitor 2: He finally understood!
Suitor 3: So you see, we have...certain rights ...in your house.
Suitor 4: The young prince to go home is a man of honor! And look he even has a beard!
Suitor 1: It's time to enter the circle, you're a man now!
Suitor 2: I will accept the challenge of your choice.
Telemachus: This is the bow of Odysseus, king of Ithaca. The man who strings the bow will take his place
Suitor 3: What?
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Suitor 4: It is impossible!
Odysseus: My father did!
Suitor 1: I never laid a bow! It's not fair!
Suitor 2: So go there, fool!
Suitor 3: That's impossible!
Suitor 4: He will not make it!
Suitor 1: Only two trials, Eurymachus!
Suitor 2: You can do it! Go
Suitor 3: No, he cannot.
Suitor 4: Go, go!
Suitor 1: No!
Suitor 2: I have waited long enough
Suitor 3: Now watch this!
Suitor 4: Go ahead, Antinous, show us how!
Suitor 1: Go!
Suitor 2: If I cannot, then no man living there come!
Odysseus: And a dead man?
Suitor 3: What are you doing?
Suitor 4: Do not be stupid!
Suitor 1: Who are you, old man?
Odysseus: Odysseus ...Telemachus ...
Suitor 2: Wait, wait!
Suitor 1: We have treated your wife like a queen.
Suitor 2: We have lived in your land, but it can be repaired,
Odysseus: You will all die...
Suitor 4: Open the door!
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Scene 15
Penelope: Odysseus.
Odysseus: I will never leave you.
Penelope: I have changed a lot ...
Odysseus: No... You're still the same.
Penelope: You're still a liar, Odysseus! You have not seen me for twenty years ...
Odysseus: No, one day...
Odysseus: Penelope: In one day you have seen the whole world?
Odysseus: Yes. I saw the sacred and the beautiful ...but nothing can match the treasure of a man ...A treasure he
holds in his hands ...and will be his forever. You are my world.
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