Underworld (Do You Know?)

I've never died... surprisingly, and so I've never been to the Underworld. But then again, Odysseus hasn't died and yet he finds himself with the 24 men he has left travelling to the end of the world in order to get his prophecy from Teiresias, a blind Theban prophet (though, I'm sure there are easier ways!). So imagine thinking that you're on your way home. You've lost almost all your men and now, losing faith in the gods and yourself as a leader, you are told that your next path is not towards home and safety but to the underworld. As Odysseus remarks 'No one has ever sailed a black ship into hell' and he's right. It was not a common thing for living men to travel to the Underworld and survive with good news, if at all!

The scene begins with Odysseus arriving at 'the end of the world' and sacrificing, as instructed by Circe, a lamb. The spirits of the underworld need to drink the blood in order to be able to communicate with him and the first ghost he allows forward is Teiresias.

So now imagine a stage. It's dark, the focus is on Odysseus with a dim light, there's mist swirling around them. Imagine Teiresias, a pale colour, his eyes closed shut as he comes forward and drinks the blood, the red a bright yet dark colour against the white of his skin.

He tells him about the suitors, and the path that lies before them. He tells them about the Sun God's island and what they will face if they eat the cattle, warning them to hold on to their will. I imagine his voice to be deep and wearied with age. The lights are still dim but there is a focus on him now.

All around them ghosts swarm, wanting to drink the blood. It's a little bit like something out of an acrobatic show; maybe some are coming down from the ceiling, maybe some come from under the stage, their bodies bending and twisting as they spy out the freshly drawn blood. 

John Flaxman - Odysseus in the Underworld

Among them Odysseus then sees his mother. Until now, he did not know that his mother has died. She drinks the blood and tells her son that it was his leaving and her love for him that caused her death. Once, twice, three times Odysseus tries to embrace her but his fingers slip through her and he is bound never to hold his mother again; she is only a spirit. He cries out for her as the rest of the ghosts then come forward to drink the blood. In the book, Odysseus actually talks to a few of the ghosts that he once knew such as Agammemnon but I envisaged this section to be, rather than a long complicated sequence of information from lots of different characters, a dance sequence. I read this part of the book as a warning to Odysseus about his return to Ithaca...that not everything is as it seems and to be wary. So during this dance, it being perhaps a tango or something to that effect, we have Teiresias still singing 'Do you know' while Odysseus and his men sing 'Thanatos ouden diapherei tou zen, we are men!' It builds up as Odysseus and his men are drawn further and further in by the ghosts. As it does so, Odysseus becomes more panicked and everything gets larger and more complex until eventually it ends.

This whole song and journey is a massive challenge on both Odysseus and his men and they are pushed to the limit as they find out that they may never get home; a fact that is true for everyone except Odysseus himself. I needed to push these men to the limit by use of the ghosts and their line 'We want to try the blood, we want to taste its taste' and 'You were men once before, but at the end of the world you are dead.' It is my way of telling them, 'You will die, and you will lose your kleos and your faith' because they do; their lack of trust in Odysseus and the Gods causes them to choose to slay the cattle. They will die and they will return for the last time to the end of the world.