Auden Wystan Hugh - The infernal machine: and other plays

at that point where I can scarcely conceive (could my brain be an enchanted mirror?) a kind of beauty in which there is no misfortune.

Like all my friends, I have tried more than once to enclose myself in a system and preach there at my ease. But a system is a sort of damnation I have come back to seek shelter in impeccable navet. It is there that my philosophical conscience finds rest.

CHARLES BAUDELAIRE

The gods exist; thats the devil of it.

JEAN COCTEAU

THE VOICE

THE YOUNG SOLDIER

THE SOLDIER

THE OFFICER

JOCASTA, The Queen

TIRESIAS, The High Priest

GHOST OF KING LAIUS

THE SPHINX, The Goddess of Vengeance

ANUBIS, The Egyptian God of the Dead

A THEBAN MOTHER

HER SON

HER DAUGHTER

OEDIPUS

THE DRUNK

THE MESSENGER FROM CORINTH

CREON, Jocastas Brother

THE OLD SHEPHERD

ANTIGONE, Daughter of Jocasta and Oedipus

La Machine Infernale was first performed in French at the Thtre Louis Jouvet in Paris on April 10, 1934, directed by Jouvet with costumes and dcor by Christian Brard.

The Infernal Machine was first played in this version at the Phoenix Theatre, New York, on February 3, 1958, under the direction of Herbert Berghof, with scenery by Ming Cho Lee, costumes by Alvin Colt, and lighting by Tharon Musser.

He shall slay his father. He shall marry his mother.

To counter this prophecy of Apollo, Jocasta, the Queen of Thebes, abandons her baby on a mountainside, with his feet pierced and tied. A shepherd discovers the boy and takes him to Polybus, King of Corinth. Polybus and his queen, Merope, have been lamenting their childless marriage. The baby, Oedipus, or Pierced-feet, spared by the bear and the wolf, comes like a gift from heaven. And they adopt him.

When he is grown to a young man, Oedipus questions the Oracle of Delphi. The god proclaims: You shall murder your father and marry your mother. At this, Oedipus makes up his mind to leave Polybus and Merope. But the fear of parricide and incest which drives him away brings him closer to his fate.

One evening, at the spot where the roads from Delphi and Daulia cross, one of the horses of a passing coach brushes against him; an argument flares up; a footman threatens him; he answers with his stick. The blow misses the servant and fells his master. The slain man is Laius, King of Thebes. This is the parricide.

The servants think they are being attacked and run for their lives, while Oedipus guesses nothing and goes on his way. He is young and restless; he soon forgets about this accident.

Shortly afterward, he hears about the Sphinx. This scourge, known as The winged virgin and The bitch that sings, is slaughtering the young men of Thebes. It asks a riddle and kills those who cannot solve it. Queen Jocasta, the widow of Laius, is offering her hand and her crown to the man who conquers the Sphinx.

Like the young Siegfried to come, Oedipus hurries onward. Curiosity and ambition feed on him.

Then the encounter takes place. What is the nature of this encounter? Mystery. All that is known is: young Oedipus enters Thebes as a conqueror and marries the queen. That is the incest.

For the gods to be royally entertained their victim has to fall from very high. The years pass, prosperous years. Two daughters and two sons complicate the unnatural marriage. The people love their king. But a plague breaks out. The gods accuse a criminal, whose name they will not reveal, of polluting the city, and demand that he be hounded out. Reeling from one monstrous discovery to another, drunk with his own misfortune, Oedipus is finally caught. The trap closes on him. Everything is now clear. With her red scarf Jocasta hangs herself. With her gold brooch Oedipus tears out his eyes.

Watch now, spectator. Before you is a fully wound machine. Slowly its spring will unwind the entire span of a human life. It is one of the most perfect machines devised by the infernal gods for the mathematical annihilation of a mortal.

A patrol path around the ramparts of Thebes. High walls. A stormy night. Summer lightning. Raucous noise and band music heard, coming from the slum quarter.

YOUNG SOLDIER . Theyre laughing.

SOLDIER . Theyre trying.

YOUNG SOLDIER . They dance all night.

SOLDIER . They cant sleep, so they dance.

YOUNG SOLDIER . They get drunk and make love and spend the night in bistros, while I parade up and down here with you. Well, Im sick of it! Understand? Im sick of it!

SOLDIER . So desert.

YOUNG SOLDIER . No. Ive made up my mind. Im going to put my name down to challenge the Sphinx.

SOLDIER . The Sphinx? Why?

YOUNG SOLDIER. To have something to do. To put an end to this waiting around.

SOLDIER . Youd be frightened.

YOUNG SOLDIER . Me? Frightened?

SOLDIER . Yes, frightened. Ive seen smarter and tougher ones than you, and they were frightened. But you think you can slaughter the Sphinx and win the big prize?

YOUNG SOLDIER . Why not? The only man who got away from the Sphinx alive all right, I know hes crazy but maybe its true, what he says. Maybe it does ask a riddle. And maybe Ill solve that riddle. Maybe

SOLDIER . You poor green bastard, you know that hundreds and hundreds of men, athletes and scholars, have been skinned alive by the Sphinx. And now you, a raw little recruit like you, wants to

YOUNG SOLDIER . Im going!

SOLDIER . Good for you. Be a hero!

YOUNG SOLDIER . Im sick of the stones in this wall

SOLDIER . Thats right explode!

YOUNG SOLDIER . And that music

SOLDIER . Get it out of your system!

YOUNG SOLDIER . And your ugly face! And

He breaks down.

SOLDIER . Here, whats this? Not crying, are we? There, there lets keep calm, now!

YOUNG SOLDIER . Go to hell!

The Soldier bangs his spear on the wall behind the Young Soldier, who stiffens.

SOLDIER . Whats up?

YOUNG SOLDIER . Didnt you hear anything?

SOLDIER . No Where?

YOUNG SOLDIER . It sounded to me as if I mean, I thought

SOLDIER . Youre pale Whats wrong with you? Feel weak?

YOUNG SOLDIER . Its funny I thought I heard a noise. I thought it was him.

SOLDIER . The Sphinx?

YOUNG SOLDIER. No , the ghost.

SOLDIER . He doesnt frighten us. Not our old ghost, Laius. He doesnt still make your guts quiver, does he? Perhaps the first time But not afterward. Hes not a bad ghost, hes a friend. Ah, the trouble is were all jumpy in Thebes: you, me, the rich people, and the poor people; everybody except the few who always come out on top. Were tired of fighting an enemy we dont know, and were tired of oracles and heroic victims and brave mothers. If we werent on edge all of us instead of dancing and drinking over there, theyd be tucked up in bed. And instead of making fun of you, while we wait for your old friend the ghost to turn up Id be beating you at dice.

YOUNG SOLDIER . What do you think the Sphinx is like?

SOLDIER . Forget about the Sphinx.

YOUNG SOLDIER . Some people say its no bigger than a rabbit, and just as timid, and that its got a tiny head. But I say it has the head and breasts of a woman and sleeps with any man over eighteen.

SOLDIER . Dont think about it any more.