Camlann: Season 1, Episode 6:
"The Sheep and The Goats"
Transcript created: 19th March 2024
Last updated: 19th March 2024
SHOW NOTES
Elsewhere.
Follow us on social media @camlannpod to stay updated. Share your thoughts with us using #Camlann. If you’d like to support the future of the show, you can do so on Ko-Fi and Patreon.
If you’d like to listen along live to episodes as they come out with Ella and Amber, you can do that on Tin Can Audio’s Twitch channel from 8-10pm GMT on Mondays. On Wednesdays at the same time, Amber will be going through the process of composing the score, and on our ‘off weeks’ on Mondays, Amber will go through the sound design for the show. Camlann is made possible with funding from Creative Scotland and the Inevitable Foundation.
The Greek folk song featured in this episode is Ikariotikos - it’s a traditional dance and song from the island of Ikaria which has a ‘slow’ and ‘quick’ version. Odysseus sings the slow version.
This episode featured: Dimitri Gripari as Odysseus, Christina Appana as Ariadne, and Will de Renzy-Martin as Polyphemus. Additional voices were provided by the Camlann ensemble. Special shoutout to Ross McFarlane, for getting eaten by a cyclops. With thanks to Eleni Sfetsiori for her work proofreading and consulting on this episode.
This episode was written and directed by Ella Watts, with original scoring and sound design from Amber Devereux at Tin Can Audio, and additional Music Direction from Alessa Catterall. Our Production Manager is Ross McFarlane.
Special thanks to: Angharad Gilbey, Holly Thwaites Bee, Samuel Thompson, Sara-Luise Edge-Smith, Elizabeth Campbell, Marc Sollinger, Sarah Shachat, David K. Barnes, Rosenkranz Vermilion and Max Degan. We wouldn’t have got here without you.
Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ που με ακούσατε. Thank you so much for listening.
Keep sailing.
Content Warnings: Fantasy Violence, Discussion of Death and Grief, Gore and Violent Death (11:41-11:50), Eye Trauma (18:49-19:09)
SCENE 1
We hear the sound of lapping waves. We’re on a yacht on a sunny day somewhere in the Mediterranean.
We hear different birds: seagulls, this time. The creak and rattle of the yacht. The sea.
ODYSSEUS: (SINGING IKARIOTIKO)
Sto pa kai sto ksanaleo
Sto gialo min katebeis
Ki o gialos kaneis fourtouna
Kai se parei kai diaveis
The singing and the ocean fade under the following monologue.
MUSIC: PIANO, STRINGS
ODYSSEUS: My name is Odysseus Papadakis, so you can guess where this is going. I’m a sailor. I was a sailor even before the world went to shit, working for rich men with too much money and too much time. They got eaten pretty quickly when the monsters turned up. So their ship is mine now. She’s beautiful. I wish you could see her.
I’m a sailor, which means I know this sea. I know she’s not small, but perfectly sized. I know it takes less than nine months to cross her, because I’ve circumnavigated these waves more times than I can count. But the world died, and the stories woke up, and I’m Odysseus.
Famously, it takes the King of Ithaca ten years to get home after Troy. Famously, he’s the only survivor of that journey. Famously, he’ll do anything to get back to his Penelope, and their son Telemachus.
I don’t have a wife or a son, and I’m no King of Ithaca. But I am lost, and I do need to go home. I’ve heard that one before.
SCENE 2
ARIADNE walks down the ship. The SAILORS are generally moving about. We hear the creak of fibreglass, rattle of steel cables and ropes, bob and splash of the boat in the sea.
ARIADNE: Odysseus!
ODYSSEUS: Ariadne, princess. Isn’t it a beautiful day on the Mediterranean?
ARIADNE: We’re going to starve
ODYSSEUS: Always so direct
ARIADNE: So what are you going to do about it?
ODYSSEUS: You’re our navigator, find us an island
ARIADNE: I already did
ODYSSEUS: Find a different one
ARIADNE: I can’t
ODYSSEUS: Well then, it seems we are at an impasse. Have we brought up the nets?
ARIADNE: Nothing comes
ODYSSEUS: Then put them back! I never knew this sea to be lifeless
ARIADNE: Odysseus, people are dying. We have three who can no longer stand and more who are fainting for hunger. You’ve run away for long enough. It’s time to face this.
ODYSSEUS: I wouldn’t say that we’ve been running away
ARIADNE: Odysseus.
Long beat.
ODYSSEUS: How far is it to Serifos?
ARIADNE: Thirty miles, give or take. (BEAT) Thank you.
ODYSSEUS: Don’t thank me yet.
SCENE 3
ODYSSEUS, ARIADNE and the SAILORS are picking through the ruined streets of a small town. Footsteps on gravel, broken glass breaking, rubble heaps shifting. It’s a lot like Carmarthen - except for the sea birds and the distant ocean.
In the background of this conversation, the SAILORS are looking for supplies, checking houses etc.
ODYSSEUS: If we do this, we’re doing it my way. We are not following in his footsteps and we are definitely not going into any caves looking for sheep and wheels of cheese.
ARIADNE: Why not? You win, Odysseus. You live, and you get home, and you find your Penelope.
ODYSSEUS: I don’t have a Penelope and I do not want one, Ariadne. Shall we start searching for your Theseus?
ARIADNE: That isn’t fair.
ODYSSEUS: None of this is fair. We are not following his story, princess. Pick a different one.
ARIADNE: What other choice do we have? We’ve been sailing for nine months. The ocean swells and twists to accommodate you and the story that you refuse to follow. We’ll all be trapped here forever unless you face it.
ODYSSEUS: And you’ll all die if I do!
ARIADNE: I won’t. Not necessarily.
ODYSSEUS: Don’t lie to the liar, Ariadne. Both of us know that the blood would stain your soul as deeply as it would mine and neither of us will easily survive that.
ARIADNE: Would it be so much harder than weeks of hunger? Days of thirst? Nights spent screaming as we escape the serpent’s jaws?
ODYSSEUS shoves open a broken door, which clatters onto a stone floor, and starts searching a house with increasing urgency -
slamming open cupboards, picking up blankets etc.
ODYSSEUS: [Searching effort sounds]
ODYSSEUS: Nothing. How is there nothing?
ARIADNE: You cannot outrun this, Odysseus
ODYSSEUS: What does that mean for you? Doesn’t it scare you? Aren’t you angry? Where are our gods now? Who doomed us to this parody of purpose? We’re like figures in a music box, whirling on our circuits. Trapped.
ARIADNE: Fated.
ODYSSEUS: What fate is this?
ARIADNE: Odysseus’
ODYSSEUS: No. I refuse. I will not be him.
ODYSSEUS storms outside.
ODYSSEUS: (screaming to the sky) Do you hear me? Gods or fates or whatever monsters you are? I will not be him! I do not want this! LEAVE ME BE!
ARIADNE: You don’t have to be him! You don’t have to make his mistakes. We know the story. We know every trick and every twist and every monster.
ODYSSEUS: And every death. Every tragedy.
ARIADNE: So outplay the narrative. This is chess. Theseus will not meet me on his terms, not this time. And Polyphemus will meet you on yours.
ODYSSEUS: How do you know? How do you know that it will work?
ARIADNE: I don’t. But if you keep running, you will doom us as surely as if you don’t. We are out of food and out of options. It’s time.
ODYSSEUS: What if I fail?
ARIADNE: Then you will not fail alone.
SCENE 4
They’re at the beach near where the ITHACA has weighed anchor. We can hear her sails and ropes rattling in the light wind, and the waves. Long grasses hissing in the wind, insects, seagulls.
ODYSSEUS: This is Serifos. It’s Polyphemus’ island. I don’t know how many of you know this story, but in it, four of you die if we go up to that cave. The rest of us get food to eat.
I will not make you go up there. I am so sick of death. But it is, as far as my first mate and I can tell, the best chance we have. There is every possibility that if we get back on board the Ithaca and leave this place, we will just sail in circles until we die. It will be a slow, miserable death, and it is not one that I wish to suffer. I want to go home. That means facing the next chapter.
Join me or don’t. Your path is your own.
ARIADNE: I’m with you
SAILORS: [General murmur of a dozen agreements]
ODYSSEUS: Come on. The sun is setting.
The group hikes up the hill: boots on gravel, gravel skidding, insects, long grasses, distant waves.
Thundering footsteps again, closer this time.
ARIADNE: Is that - ?
ODYSSEUS: Wherever he is, he’s not in the cave. (to sailors) Keep moving, quickly.
The group continues onward. We hear the bleating of sheep - distant at first, then closer.
ODYSSEUS and ARIADNE reach the cave. Their voices should echo - this is a vast, cathedral-like space. Sheep in here too, their bleating echoing.
ODYSSEUS: (soft) Take the cheese and one of the sheep. Then we go. Quickly.
The SAILORS catch up.
ODYSSEUS: What are you doing with that -
There’s a gunshot. One of the sheep collapses to the ground, dead.
ODYSSEUS: (storming over) What the hell are you doing?
The sound of thunder - clearly footsteps, clearly approaching quickly.
POLYPHEMUS: Who are you?
POLYPHEMUS is blocking the entrance to the cave. Everyone freezes.
A massive hand comes down and picks up the sheep corpse. Grinding through the dirt and crumbling the stone like icing on a cake. Gristle squelch of the corpse.
POLYPHEMUS: You killed my sheep.
POLYPHEMUS handles the sheep. Gristle squelch.
POLYPHEMUS: This was my favourite sheep. Thieves! Murderers! Who are you?
[Odysseus shouts up to Polyphemus towering over him.]
ODYSSEUS: No, my lord, you misunderstand. We’re not thieves. Just hungry travellers looking for food. We didn’t realise these sheep belonged to you. (SOFT) Everyone get behind Ariadne and I now.
(TO POLYPHEMUS) Please, let us make it up to you.
ODYSSEUS swings his backpack off his shoulder and unzips it, pulling out a pack of beer.
ODYSSEUS: This is the finest beer in all of Greece. Please, take it as an apology from my crew and I. (LIFTING PACK ABOVE HIS HEAD) We don’t want to fight you.
The gravity swoop sound of POLYPHEMUS reaching down again. Crunch of aluminium as he takes the beer and rips it open.
Sound of fluid flowing, Polyphemus gulping.
POLYPHEMUS: [DRINKING]
POLYPHEMUS: Who should I thank for this?
ODYSSEUS: Nobody. I’m Nobody.
POLYPHEMUS: Nobody. In thanks...
Gently, POLYPHEMUS puts down the sheep corpse.
POLYPHEMUS: You will be the last to die.
POLYPHEMUS grabs one of the SAILORS.
SAILOR: [SCREAMING]
POLYPHEMUS bites their upper half off, cutting the scream abruptly. The other SAILORS start to scream as pieces of flesh fall to the floor with a wet smack.
POLYPHEMUS: [CHEWING]
SAILORS: [PANICKING AND SCREAMS]
ODYSSEUS: RUN! NOW! GET OUT OF THE CAVE!
The SAILORS start to run. POLYPHEMUS pulls the stone across the entrance with a grinding rumble. It comes to a close with an echoing bang.
POLYPHEMUS crouches: huge gravity / wind whoosh as he does so.
POLYPHEMUS: (close, soft) You need to learn a lesson, little travellers. You cannot deal harm without recompense.
SCENE 5
ODYSSEUS, ARIADNE and the SAILORS are in the cave, hiding. There’s the sound of sheep bleating. POLYPHEMUS is not here.
Soft sobbing and murmur of the SAILORS in the background.
SAILORS: [Quiet background sobbing]
ODYSSEUS: Are we even ourselves any more?
ARIADNE: Odysseus -
ODYSSEUS: Truly, Ariadne. How do you know that you will not love your Theseus? How do I know I will not find my Penelope? Nothing we do makes any difference. All roads lead to Rome. It’s just like the old stories. Knowing your fate does not change it.
ARIADNE: That’s not true. It can’t be true.
ODYSSEUS: Tell that to our dead friends.
ARIADNE: This isn’t helping.
ODYSSEUS: No, you’re right. Mourning is a waste of time. We could be rushing into even more certain death.
ARIADNE: Stop that. I didn’t want this.
ODYSSEUS: Didn’t you? Follow your story, Odysseus. Stop running away, Odysseus. Play chess.
ARIADNE: What was the alternative? We have found no other island than Serifos for weeks. Months, even. Serifos and a lifeless sea, unfolding to an infinite horizon. This is ugly and violent and unfair but so is life, Odysseus. And our only choice is to continue or despair.
ODYSSEUS: So what do you suggest? How do we find our way out?
ARIADNE: Very funny
ODYSSEUS: I’m serious. You’re not in this story. How do we change it?
ARIADNE: I don’t know. What happens next?
ODYSSEUS: Two more people die. I drug him with flowers from the Lotus Eaters. We blind him and escape, then I tell him my name, and Poseidon curses me to wander for ten years, most of which I spend trapped by a Titan who thinks she loves me.
ARIADNE: Let’s call that Plan B. Do you still have the flowers from the Lotus Eaters?
ODYSSEUS unzips his pack. The FLOWERS have a crystalline, bell-like sound when handled, emitting a low hum.
ARIADNE: I thought you weren’t following your story.
ODYSSEUS: I hoped I wouldn’t have to.
SCENE 6
Two cracking beer cans open and pouring one after the other into a barrel. Nearby, POLYPHEMUS is tending to his sheep.
POLYPHEMUS: Fluffy! You are looking far too skinny, you must eat more. Cloudy, stop bullying Bouncy. There is enough for everyone.
ODYSSEUS: Quietly! Just because you’re not in this story doesn’t mean it can’t kill you.
ARIADNE: That might be exactly what it means
ODYSSEUS: I don’t think it’s the kind of theory we should test, princess.
ARIADNE: Ready?
ODYSSEUS: Brace for the fireworks.
He drops the lotus petals into the barrel. It hisses and fizzes like sherbert dropped in soda.
ODYSSEUS: Cover your mouth, don’t inhale the steam.
POLYPHEMUS: Nobody?
Eventually the fizzing stops. Huge footsteps coming closer.
ODYSSEUS: Shit! Hide.
POLYPHEMUS arrives. Huge gravity whoosh as he bends down. Scrabble of gravel as ODYSSEUS hides just in time, but ARIADNE doesn’t.
POLYPHEMUS: Who are you, little princess?
ARIADNE: I am a guest. I’ve long admired you from afar, and I have come to give you offerings.
POLYPHEMUS: How did you find your way into my cave?
ARIADNE: I like to wander the tunnels beneath my palace. One of them led me here.
POLYPHEMUS: You must show me this hidden entrance. I would not want my thieves to escape their justice.
ARIADNE: Of course! But perhaps, first, you would indulge me by tasting my offering? You are so wise and powerful, so attentive a shepherd. I have longed to offer you a gift worthy of your nobility.
Gravity whoosh and wooden creak as POLYPHEMUS leans down. Almighty wind whistle as he sniffs.
POLYPHEMUS: [Sniff]
POLYPHEMUS: I recognise this perfume.
ARIADNE: I mixed it with flowers I found on an island not far from here.
POLYPHEMUS: Then you must drink it first, little princess. Prove to me that this is no trick.
ARIADNE: Of course my lord. Perhaps we could drink together? A toast, from one royal house to another. I know much of your father, and the great seas he commands. It would be my honour, to share this with you.
POLYPHEMUS: Together, then.
ARIADNE scoops a flagon of ale. POLYPHEMUS picks up the barrel with a gravity whoosh, wooden creak, slosh of beer.
ARIADNE: To your good health, my lord.
POLYPHEMUS: [Grunts]
Both of them drink. Music sting, audio distortion. Magic.
POLYPHEMUS: (dazed and falling asleep) Such a strange taste. Like the flowers that littered the halls of my...[father]
Almighty thunder crash as POLYPHEMUS falls unconscious.
POLYPHEMUS: [Snoring]
ARIADNE also collapses onto the stone. ODYSSEUS scrambles out of hiding.
ODYSSEUS: Ariadne!
ODYSSEUS lifts ARIADNE into his arms.
ARIADNE: [Wordless murmur]
ODYSSEUS: Clever princess. Come on, let’s get you out of here.
SCENE 7
POLYPHEMUS is snoring, the sound making an almighty racket. The sheep are bleating.
There’s the sound of carving wood and wood shavings falling to the ground.
ARIADNE: (EXHAUSTED) What happened?
ODYSSEUS: You drank Lotus-drugged beer. Don’t do that to me again.
ARIADNE: I remember...Polyphemus!
ODYSSEUS: Still sleeping. I don’t know how you’re awake. Perhaps because the story needed you to be.
ARIADNE: (STILL GROGGY) But I’m not part of your story
ODYSSEUS: You are now. Come on.
ODYSSEUS helps ARIADNE to her feet and creeps through the cave. ARIADNE follows.
ARIADNE: Where are we going?
POLYPHEMUS’ snoring gets much louder.
ARIADNE: Is that a spear or a tree trunk?
ODYSSEUS: We’re playing the story. (TO SAILORS) Ready?
SAILORS: [Various affirmatives - aye captain, yes sir, ready]
Sound of the group picking up a massive, heavy wooden pole and climbing up a slope in the cave.
As they do we get closer to POLPYHEMUS, whose snores takes over almost everything else.
ODYSSEUS: (WHISPER-SHOUT) Three-two-ONE!
They heave the spear over the edge. It squelches into POLYPHEMUS’ eye as he screams. The pole goes clattering across the cave and shatters.
POLYPHEMUS: MY EYE! NO! NOT AGAIN! MY EYE!
ODYSSEUS: (WHISPER-SHOUT) HIDE!
SAILORS scatter to hide behind various rocks, barrels, sheep.
POLYPHEMUS slides the stone on the cave entrance open. We hear a crowd of approaching thunder.
POLYPHEMUS: (DISTANT, OFF) Nobody! Nobody took my eye!
Thunder and lightning of the giants speaking. Eventually POLYPHEMUS returns.
POLYPHEMUS: NOBODY! WHERE ARE YOU?
Massive clatter as Polyphemus rampages through the cave.
POLYPHEMUS: YOU CANNOT HIDE FROM ME! NOT THIS TIME! NOBODY!
Thundering boom as POLYPHEMUS falls to his knees, fumbling through the dust.
POLYPHEMUS slowly starts to lose steam as he fails to find ODYSSEUS
POLYPHEMUS: I WILL FIND YOU, NOBODY! YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS! You will not!
POLYPHEMUS: (QUIET, CHILDISH SOBBING) Not again. Not again. Not again.
SCENE 8
POLYPHEMUS is sobbing.
POLYPHEMUS: [Sobbing] Why have you abandoned me father? It hurts. I cannot see, I cannot see. Nobody!
ARIADNE: What now?
ODYSSEUS: You tell me!
ARIADNE: What?
ODYSSEUS: You’re our navigator! You said you wandered the tunnels under your palace and found your way in here. Find your way out.
POLYPHEMUS: NOBODY!
A massive thundering crunch as POLYPHEMUS punches a crater in the cave floor. Hiss of dust from the cave ceiling.
SAILORS: [Murmur of fear - non-verbal]
ODYSSEUS: Quickly, Ariadne
ARIADNE: Ok, ok. Find a way out.
Music sting, audio distortion. Rumble of stone as a cave opens.
POLYPHEMUS: Nobody? I hear you!
Thunder footsteps of POLYPHEMUS approaching.
ODYSSEUS: (THRILLED) I’m pretty sure the original Ariadne couldn’t do that
ARIADNE: Don’t question it, just run!
They run into the tunnel.
POLYPHEMUS: NOBODY!!!!
SCENE 9
ODYSSEUS, ARIADNE and the SAILORS have got out of the cave and are running down the hill to their ship.
ODYSSEUS: (RUNNING FOR HIS LIFE) She’s still here!
ARIADNE: Faster! Come on!
ODYSSEUS: (TO SAILORS ON SHIP) WE’RE LEAVING! WEIGH ANCHOR!
POLYPHEMUS: (VERY DISTANT) NOBODY!!!
Accelerating, thundering footsteps.
ARIADNE: He’s seen us!
ODYSSEUS: Thank you Ariadne. Keep running!
ODYSSEUS, ARIADNE and the SAILORS splash into the ocean and clamber onto the ship.
Boots running around the deck, clattering of work, snap of the sails filling.
ODYSSEUS: START ROWING! NOW!
The music changes, the audio distorts. This is a command. The sailors immediately start to row in quick time. The Ithaca lurches out into the ocean.
The waves crash around us. Seagulls cry above.
POLYPHEMUS: (MUCH CLOSER) NOBODY! [THROWS BOULDER]
A boulder crashes into the ocean next to the Ithaca, sending her rocking.
ARIADNE: Odysseus!
ODYSSEUS: Keep rowing!
They start to make progress. The sails fill with a snap of fabric. Water rushes past. POLYPHEMUS’ howling gets quieter.
POLYPHEMUS: (SHOUTING INTO THE WIND) I know who you think you are! Coward and king! I knew him before, many-minded Odysseus, and he tricked me and I had my vengeance. But you are not him! You are no king and you are not favoured of Athena. You will not survive your journey as he did! There is no home waiting for you, there is no queen and no prince. There are only monsters and the ocean in which you will drown.
ODYSSEUS runs down the ship and climbs onto the railing, holding onto the rigging.
ARIADNE: Odysseus, don’t!
ODYSSEUS: (YELLING BACK TO POLYPHEMUS) You know him and I know you, monster. No less stupid and just as cruel.
You’re right. I’m not your King of Ithaca. But I am Odysseus and I will survive this journey. So curse me. Call on your father and punish me for my hubris.
This is not your story. It is mine.
SCCENE 10
It’s night time on the open ocean. ODYSSEUS is sitting in the crow’s nest. We hear the wind, the rigging, the waves.
Distantly, below him on the deck is the murmur of the SAILORS.
SAILORS: [Quiet conversation]
ODYSSEUS: (Humming Ikariotiko)
ARIADNE climbs up the rigging to join him, climbing into the crow’s nest.
ARIADNE: Move over.
ODYSSEUS: (MOVING) The crow’s nest isn’t really made for two, you know.
ARIADNE cracks open a beer and hands it to him before opening her own.
ARIADNE:Does this help?
ODYSSEUS: I didn’t think we had any beer left
ARIADNE: The Stag-Do guys were insistent
ODYSSEUS: I’m not sure I can drink it
ARIADNE: You don’t have to
ODYSSEUS: I have free will again, do I?
ARIADNE: We’re not starving any more
ODYSSEUS: Four people are dead. Elena was a writer. Stavros had a partner. Katerina was in her final year of university.
ARIADNE: And Dino still thought he could find his dog again. I know.
ODYSSEUS: How do you live with it?
ARIADNE: I’m not sure you do. Not really. I read somewhere once that it’s not that grief gets smaller as time passes. It’s that you get bigger around it.
ODYSSEUS: I don’t think I can be big enough for this.
ARIADNE: Do you think he was? Odysseus? Do you think he ever got far enough away from all the tragedy that it stopped feeling like it would consume him?
ODYSSEUS: I don’t know.
ARIADNE: Liar.
Silence passes between them. The ocean, the ship.
ODYSSEUS: What happens to Odysseus without Athena?
ARIADNE: Who is Ariadne without Dionysus? You feel it too, don’t you? Like the story is out of balance. A propeller without a blade, spinning out of control.
ODYSSEUS: I just want to go home.
ARIADNE: I think that’s the problem.
ODYSSEUS: What?
ARIADNE: You’re too much like him. You can’t let him go. Your love, your longing, your homesickness - it has woven an ocean around us which we cannot escape. Because you feel the way that he did, in his heart, after Troy.
ODYSSEUS: What does that make you? Who is Ariadne without the men who used her? How do you find yourself at sea with Odysseus?
ARIADNE:
I think she was lost. I think she was looking for a way out. Like me. And the harder I try to find a way to escape, the closer I draw her to me. Sometimes when I dream I feel as if she’s so close I could touch her. Like if I just reached out I could take her hand, and she would pull me under the earth into the dark.
ODYSSEUS: Don’t. I don’t think I could do this without you.
ARIADNE: I know.
ODYSSEUS: The story did change, in the end. Ariadne doesn’t drug the cyclops.
ARIADNE: Nobody does.
ODYSSEUS: Hilarious. But that matters, doesn’t it? We changed it. Just a little.
ARIADNE: Not enough.
ODYSSEUS is becoming optimistic - getting more fiercely, defiantly hopeful as he speaks.
ODYSSEUS: But it’s a crack in the door. It’s the light. Maybe there’s a way out.
ARIADNE: Now you’re sounding like Odysseus.
ODYSSEUS: Perhaps I can be both. Both the man he was and the man I am. Perhaps I can sail to Ithaca and find my Athens. Perhaps Nikolas can be my Penelope.
ARIADNE: Or perhaps we sail forever through the waves of a broken myth.
ODYSSEUS gets to his feet, filled with renewed confidence.
ODYSSEUS: Maybe. But look at the stars Ariadne! Look at that island on the horizon, further away than it was yesterday or the day before. We have turned the page. We have faced our monsters and overcome them! We won! And we can win again. All we have to do is believe. All you have to do is believe in me. (POLITE, GENTLE) Please. Believe in me.
ARIADNE: And sail with a strange man into the unknown? That doesn’t end well for me, in my story.
ODYSSEUS: (SO CERTAIN) It will be different this time. I am not him. Trust me.
The ocean washes around them. ARIADNE doesn’t answer. There’s a rumble of distant thunder, and the crash of lightning.
CREDITS
Hi, it’s Ella! I hope this episode was a fun surprise for you. I’ve been excited to share it with the world ever since I wrote the first draft nearly a decade ago. I’d especially like to thank Eleni Sfetsiori for her kind work in proofreading and consulting on this episode.
If you’d like to follow us on social media, you can do that wherever the internet is found @camlannpod. If you’d like to give us a tip, we’d be very grateful for your support.
Whilst series one of Camlann was generously funded by Creative Scotland and The Inevitable Foundation, we currently have no guarantee of future funding for more series. If you like the show and you want to give us a bit of cash, you can give us a tip on Ko-Fi dot com slash Camlannpod or on Patreon.
This money will be used exclusively on the show for things like producing merchandise, performing live shows and producing future seasons. As a team, we are committed to only doing these things if we can pay our creatives a fair wage, so none of this is guaranteed. But much like our core trio, we live in hope.
If you’d like to join Amber, Ella and occasionally other members of the cast and crew for a live listen along of each episode of Camlann as it releases, you can do that on Mondays from eight til ten pm GMT. On Wednesdays at the same time, Amber will be taking you through the process of composing the music for the show, and on our off-weeks, Amber will be doing a behind the scenes stream on Mondays where they break apart the project file for each episode and explain how they did the sound design.
These streams are always a fun and cozy time, and if you have any questions about the show for Amber and I, it’s a good opportunity to ask them.
Finally, I’d like to give you a podcast recommendation! Specifically, two podcast recommendations. You might have noticed I’ve been trying to spotlight Welsh and Scottish creators in this segment. For this episode I really wanted to focus on Greek narratives, however we struggled to find English or bilingual shows by Greek creators. If you are Greek or a member of the diaspora, and you make audio fiction, please get in touch and we’ll happily promote your show.
Ok, so! First I’d like to recommend Khora, that’s K-H-O-R-A with a circumflex, or little hat, over the O. It’s a queer, sci-fi retelling of Greek mythology and especially its monstrous women. Medea is a grizzled Scottish spaceship captain, Andromeda’s a golden retriever himbo lesbian. It’s wonderful.
Second, I’d like to recommend Hearthbound. This is an upcoming show that isn’t out yet but I’ve been excited about it ever since I backed their kickstarter. The team describes as a queer untelling of The Odyssey, and it’s set in a post-apocalyptic America. It follows a group of gays and their dog, sound familiar? AND it’s a musical! I’m really excited about this show. If you want to find out when it releases and more, sign up to updates on their website, hearthboundpod dot com.
Here’s a teaser!
[Teaser plays]
Thank you so much again for your support, and remember - keep the fires burning. Diolch am wrando.
