LINKS
ASTERION
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patria
home•The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council |
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What lies beyond is full of marvels an unrealities, a land of poets and fabulists, of doubts and uncertainties. Plutarch, Life of Theseus
A lecture is being given. The subject is Cretan mythology and the history
of an ancient structure.
It is rare in drama when an artifact figures more prominently than the leading characters of the story, but such is the case with the labyrinth at Knossos in Crete, the site of a drama concerning Theseus, Ariadne and the Minotaur. The labyrinth built by Daedalus to house the Minotaur is not merely the scenery to the drama, it is the drama.All ancient accounts agreed that anyone entering the labyrinth would never return. Either they would become lost among the endlessly forking paths, or they would be devoured by the Minotaur who prowled there.
If the heroic myth of ancient Crete were able to fire the modern imagination, the execution of such a work would require a space quite unlike the traditional theatre. The journey through this labyrinth must be experienced individually and alone. The characters that inhabit the labyrinth are archetypes, symbols of the psyche drawn from both the light and dark sides of our nature and presented for inspection in order that we might know ourselves better.
The lecture goes on to explore the world of the heroic myths and the way that world differs from our own. At the conclusion, the audience is invited to take a form to fill out. This form is an application to undertake the journey from darkness into light. If accepted, the neophyte will be invited to enter the labyrinth.
Those who are familiar with the works of The Patria Cycle have met Ariadne and Theseus. It was Theseus who was the first to enter and escape the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur. Ariadne, eldest daughter of Pasiphae, the moon queen, fell in love with Theseus, and helped him defeat the Minotaur. By giving him a thread to guide him out of the labyrinth, along with her voice for inspiration, she did indeed help him complete this task. Others have since entered the labyrinth, though none as lucky as Theseus. It has been said that everything is “...controlled by an invisible force at the center, dark and malignant”.
These characters from legend guide the neophyte throughout the labyrinth. The journey is broken into a series of diminishing sections: 9 encounters, 8 trials, 7 experiences, 6 perceptions, 5 contemplations, 4 arcana, 3 deceptions, 2 divinities and finally rebirth. Each event requires a unique environment and these environments make up the labyrinth that is Asterion.
Schafer’s text for Asterion provides the background and rationale for the project, of which the above is a very superficial summary. Each event is described and our explorations will involve exploring the possibilities inherent in the descriptions with the aim of eventually creating the labyrinth itself, the structure that is the drama.