Alexander the Great

A Play

Ioannis E. M. Vassos

• Éditeur: AKAKIA Publications
• ISBN:
  9781909884304
• Sujet: Media & Performing Arts
• Sous-sujet: Theatre

This work is addressed to adults aged from 18 years and upwards, and especially to those interested in theatre, literature, philosophy and ancient Greek culture. This Thatrical Play is divided in three acts: FIRST ACTWe witness the distress of Alexander the Great's generals and the Persian generals, preceding the battle,the prayers they address to their Gods, for assistance,and also Alexander the Great's grandeur, when in the battle of Issus, he captures Sisygambis, the mother of the Great king of Persia, Darius.SECOND ACTWhile the wars have ended, Hellenes are celebrating their victories Over the Persians. In one of these celebrations, Cleitus the general, in front of all, accuses Alexander the Great that he isn't a God, but a human. Alexander the Great is enraged and assassinates him. Cleitus, now being dead, is transferred to a world reigned by a wise old man that demonstrates the error he committed in contradicting his King.Cleitus returns back to life and forgives Alexander the Great for killing him,But also asks him for forgiveness as well for his behavior. "Now I die, really with my will, Alexander my king" he says, bows, kisses the moribund Alexander the Great and dissipates in heavens.THIRD ACTDeath of Alexander the Great. The generals and the officers go by him one by one and salute him for a last time, their beloved Alexander the King. Father Zeus appears in front of them. Blinding light covers the stage.

ACT A

SCENE A

On stage the headquarters of Alexander the Great. He is found gazing the Granicus River (334 B.C.)

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Grant me your silence and your bliss, o Gods, that I be made upon your image in mind before the battle commences.

Enter Cleitus

CLEITUS

My liege, Alexander, our time, so capital, now appears scarce.

Hours abstain from enumerating their minutes.

Lives chase for hope even in their wasted breaths.

Daunted daylight ransoms some proportion of gloom’s visage.

Time rendered ineffectual in inducing fate to obstruct death, not to be cast as the cause that will obliterate life.

[Falls briefly silent and then continues]

Our gazes will fleetingly depict our hopes, over the battleground where nobody resides, in this house of lamentation, which incalculable casualties will make into their colony.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

[without interrupting the train of his thoughts as a result of Cleitos’ presence]

To whom do my malcontented ideals owe a favour when they stray from the world of the ideas heading towards our own world where the only prerogative of their fate is that they be satisfied?

Let the All-benevolent Zeus be our guardian and aid!

Enter Parmenion

PARMENION

My king and KING OF ALL HELLENES!

Tonight, our swords will make the dreams come true for some,

For others the consciences of their dreams will dye in their blood the darkest visage of their deaths!

We stride ahead keeping as a talisman our own world, a world so simple and yet bursting with wisdom, the fates will either cross out our destinies or they will revere our dreams!

[short pause]

We were born to serve our dreams, for a divine fortune tracks our trail, of us the Hellenes, as we were born in the selfsame country were dreams are born!

Heliomorph, star-spangled Eagle, we the mortals, thou immortal, navigate us amidst worlds alike those where Gods reside!

[he bows. As he exits he turns to Alexander the Great]

At this very moment we all surrender our dreams to you. Let them achieve to find their habitation in your own dream!

[he exits to take part in the battle]

SCENE Β

At the Persian headquarters, in front of his tent at the Granicus River, Mithradate confers with Spithradate and Memnon.

MITHRIDATE

He who feels mighty, the instant will come when he will feel that he is not

Out of the bliss of silence, speech aroves with insolence

Will a new conqueror dispel the dominion of an empire?

And what about peace?

There is no peace, we will eternally inhabit a ceaseless war!

SPITHRADATES

Before everything exists an incitation.

By hunting for the origins of the incitation in thoughts that were not subjected to peace, we transverse deserts alluring us far away from our goals. The war!... Who were those that granted it to us?

The gods if you inquire them will reprove ignorance and then fall silent! The war!... to whom are we now to donate it? A veil of obscurity spreads over our souls, a veil of obscurity over any of our dreams have striven to elude the visions of annihilation.

MEMNON OF RHODES

He who with unfaltering faith deems that he is formed as the Sun, that treads wisely among the shadow fields! Relentless firebearing arrows will long to reside on the golden wheat and Mother Earth’s countenance will appear ever sadder.

The flaming extermination, the chariot of the ripper warrior will draw famine and desperation on them!

For us, he will be their merciless persecutor, and yet our protector of our dominion against the ambitious invader.

Let his golden rays be our spoils!

After his flight, let bronze rays accompany the sun, who will be instructed to reign supreme only in his subjugation!

MITHRIDATE

[to Memn...