Medusa

ACT I

Scene one

Caves by the sea. Stheno and Euryale are cross after a long night of anxiously watching over Medusa’s safety: men’s voices echo from the sea, calling her name. Unlike her sisters, Medusa is unaware of any threat; she goes to fetch figs, bread, and honey for breakfast. Stheno and Euryale discuss what to do as they realise that Poseidon, the ruler of the seas, has set his sights on Medusa. Euryale suggests moving away from the sea. The proud Stheno, having killed so many men, still thinks she can protect Medusa.

Medusa sees her name written in the sand on the beach, and her sisters reluctantly tell her that Poseidon is looking for her. But Medusa does not understand: all she hears from the sea is a lullaby sung by a mother trying to soothe her ‘Starchild’. Stheno decides Medusa must leave, whether she wants to or not. Euryale also hopes her sister will be safe in Athena’s temple. The lullaby echoes again. Medusa now believes it comes from Athena – as if the goddess promises her protection.

Scene two

Medusa is now a novice at the temple of Athena. The priestesses raise a hymn of praise to the goddess. The high priestess accuses Medusa of thinking about her old life, rather than devoting her heart and soul to Athena. She then orders her to guard the goddess’s flame on her own that night to purify her soul. When darkness falls, Medusa feels lonely. The lullaby echoes, but so does that other call: ‘Meeeee-duuuuu-saaaaa.’

Suddenly, the flame goes out, and Poseidon appears. He claims to have brought the child from the lullaby safely to shore and now demands Medusa’s virginity as a reward. She defends herself fiercely, but the sea god violently subdues her and rapes her. Medusa is left broken in the temple. Seeing the blood on her thighs, she begs her sisters to come and get her.

Athena discovers that her temple has been desecrated and unleashes her wrath on Medusa. The high priestess and the other priestesses come running. Medusa explains that she was taken by force. The goddess does not accept that explanation: everyone knew that Poseidon was coming; so, in a sense, Medusa let everything happen. Offerings and prayers now of no avail, Athena is determined to punish everyone. The high priestess, who is the only one allowed to address the goddess, will henceforth go through life mute and insane. The other priestesses’ eyes will melt away. Rough scales form on Medusa’s skin, her hair becomes a mass of writhing snakes, and her gaze will turn any mortal who looks at her to stone. Athena collapses the temple while the priestesses run around in a panic, and Medusa undergoes her metamorphosis.

ACT II

It has been seventeen years since Medusa was transformed by Athena’s curse. Stheno and Euryale have made a home for Medusa on a desolate island, where the three of them survive on what the sea brings: enemy ships and their cargoes. The ground is littered with the petrified bodies of young soldiers who dock daily in the hope of slaughtering the ‘monstrous’ Medusa and taking her blood home with them.

In the company of Euryale, Medusa reflects on her own fate and that of the petrified young men. Through Poseidon’s lust and Athena’s punishment, she herself was forever changed: into something sublime, perhaps? She will remain the same forever, without growing old, without knowing love or motherhood. In Euryale’s eyes, Medusa is now immortal and invincible.

Stheno has no time for such considerations; as she does every day, she has stopped the ship approaching their shores and killed the crew. It will take a day for the blood to wash away, waiting for a new shipload of ‘young heroes’ to arrive from all the corners of the world. The contents of the hold will enable the three of them to live well for a while. Medusa hums the familiar lullaby to herself, much to Stheno’s annoyance. A sense of futility overwhelms her: she has killed thousands of men, and yet she cannot save Medusa.

Medusa is the only one who remains. The words of the lullaby can now be heard, “The moon seeks you out in this cradle on the waves.” Suddenly, a young Numidian warrior appears. He has come to kill Medusa, but the sight of the petrified, dismembered bodies staggers him. Medusa pulls his face towards her. When their eyes meet, he, too, turns to stone. Sensing a strangely familiar smell enveloping her, Medusa tries to calm the hissing snakes around her head. “Give me peace, vile snakes; let me think.” She foresees the arrival of something new, which at the same time feels like something she recognises. The Starchild is approaching – and Medusa realises that their fates are intertwined.

She waits. Like the others before him, this young man wants to kill her. He tries to approach her unseen, but Medusa has heard him and addresses him. Initially, he is convinced he is facing a monster. And though he takes no pleasure in his task, her head is the price for his mother’s rescue from a forced marriage. Medusa informs him that she was expecting his arrival… It confuses him that she seems to know him so well – that she sings his mother’s lullaby and calls him the Starchild. Gradually, his disbelief and disgust fade, and under the monstrous appearance of scales and snakes, he sees her humanity. He wants to abort his mission, but Medusa stops him. What would happen to his mother then? Medusa asks for his name; “Perseus,” he tells her. In the distance, Stheno and Euryale warn of the arrival of yet another ship as Medusa prepares Perseus: he will leave from here alive and save his mother. To do so, he must first pierce Medusa’s heart and then cut off her head. Time is running out, as her sisters will be less lenient. Medusa wants to be forgotten and to throw off the curse of eternity. Before she dies, she tells him, “Starchild, you are my mercy.”