The Game
By Gale Force
THIS STORY TAKES PLACE AFTER SARA LEAVES CSI,
BUT BEFORE WARRICK GETS SHOT.
Chapter 2: The Play
Gil Grissom had been given the best seat in the house… middle of the row, third row from the stage, in the small, intime setting of the Actor's Theatre. The house was only two-thirds full, which was a pity, Grissom thought, as the play he as watching was fascinating and Morgan Fane's acting was captivating.
He'd read her brief biography in the playbill while waiting for the performance to start - she had indeed traveled all over the country, appearing in regional theaters in a wide variety of performances, from the women of Shakespeare to Chekov to avant-garde pieces of the present day.
But her acting...it was Broadway-worthy, to say the least. The vast array of emotions on display...incredible.
The Minotaur was two one-act plays, connected by a framing story.
Playwright James Cross -- happily married to another playwright, Gabrielle Cross -- has written his version of the Greek myth of Ariadne, Theseus and the Minotaur, which, as the play opens, he finishes reading to his wife.
In the legend, Theseus the Greek journeys to the island of Crete, at a time when Crete ruled the waves, and Greece had to send a yearly tribute of 7 male and 7 female virgins to the island, where they would be thrust into the Labyrinth to be hunted down and killed by the Minotaur. (The Minotaur was a creature half-man and half-bull, conceived when the Queen of Crete, Pasiphae, had fallen in love with a bull, and her court inventor, Daedalus, had "crafted for her the form of a cow, inside of which she might allow the bull to satisfy his passion.")
Gabrielle criticizes her husband's version, commenting that although it did indeed feature Ariadne as the main character, it still told the story from a man's point of view. And she reveals that she had been reading James' play while he'd been writing it - and written her own version of it which she felt was a more accurate portrayal of the iconic figure.
Husband and wife made a deal - breaking the fourth wall in the process - they will each perform their one-act versions of the play, and let the audience decide.
First, James Cross' version was performed, with James playing Theseus and his wife, Gabrielle, playing Ariadne.
Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphae, and a priestess of the matriarchal religion that rules Crete, sees a vision of Theseus in an augury. She learns that with his arrival he will bring destruction to the Cretan civilization. Nevertheless, she falls in love with him in that vision, and rather than try to fight against the Fate she accepts it wholeheartedly, and sacrifices everything - her family, her friends, her culture - for her love of him. She not only gives him the thread that allows him to find his way into and out of the Labyrinth, but a sword with which to kill the beast. She does this, despite the fact that the augury shows that Theseus, once he has gotten what he needed from her, will abandon her on an island and cold-heartedly sail away to Greece, leaving her to live or die to the whims of fate.
The moral is clear, according to James Cross:
"All women contrive their own passions, and all men use them for their own ends. If a woman considers herself destined to be loved (and what woman does not?) she will provide the required condition of her passion, if, of course, she is in a position to control any part of her own life. Women long to help men, to be loved by them, to be carried off to ancillary destinies."
During the intermission, Grissom went into the lobby for a glass of wine, and learned that there was to be a reception after the play, for audience and actors to mingle and talk. He wondered if Morgan hadn't mentioned that, on the off-chance that if he didn't like the play, he wouldn't feel obligated to stay afterwards and make uncomfortable small talk.
Well, so far he was loving it.
Then the second one-act play began. There was no prelude this time, it went right into the opening of the play.
Ariadne, once more, was staring out a window, into the harbor beyond. Once again, her first words, to the Court Inventor Daedalus standing beside her, were: "He is coming tonight. One more day of waiting."
Grissom caught his breath, as he absorbed Morgan's new character. In the first version, the way she'd said those words, and her entire physical demeanor, had been one of anticipation, eagerness and wild desire.
But not this time. This time, her voice was tinged with fear, with desperation. Her body was rigid with it.
The intruder, Theseus, was about to appear in paradise. Just as in James Cross' version, Ariadne had seen the arrival of Theseus in the Augury. But while attraction for his physical features had caught her eye...she knew full well what his arrival portended...but how could she stop it? How could she save her family, her friends, her culture?
Daedalus advised her of the plan of submission – give Theseus "the thread of the Labyrinth; he would then kill the Minotaur but not, it was to be hoped, her or her mother or sister. Greek men were violent, rapists, triumphant over women and weaker men whenever possible. Thwarted, Theseus might kill her whole family, seize the holy double ax, and murder everyone along with the Minotaur. Her only chance was to appear to have anticipated, with the fullest possible girlish glee, his coming. This was the only chance of escape, foe her, for her mother Pasiphae, her sister Phaedre, and the priestesses.
Her Crete was a civilization that feared the violence and brutality of foreign men. Crete was a matriarchy in the sense that the priests and the queen were women, bt the men flourished as well…they knew that other nations, in particular Greece, honored male brutality and cruelty, and sent its men to find their rewards for war in the rape and carnage and destruction of other lands.
The yearly tribute of seven male and seven female virgins were not sacrifices to the Minotaur, but rather welcomed strangers added to the life of Crete.
But now the Greeks were coming, and Daedalus warned her: Crete would be conquered, there was no chance of avoiding that. The old ways were gone, women would be enslaved or made into objects of male desire, largely powerless.
There was no hope but to let Theseus believe that he had conquered easily, conquered because of Ariadne's lust for him. He would take her and Phaedra away. Phaedra, in later years, would cause Theseus to kill his son…thus preventing much blood-shed. Ariadne, meanwhile, would throw a fit of madness such that Theseus would abandon her on a nearby island, where one day she could return to Crete."
"Will your plan work, Daedalus?" Ariadne asked her advisor, voice trembling.
"I do not know, Princess. But I believe it is our only hope. It all depends on you. If you can convince that man of your desire for him. And convince him to leave you behind once he sails away with the spoils of his victory."
"Not certain to succeed," Ariadne whispered, "but certain to try."
What an actress, Grissom thought to himself. Morgan as Ariadne was walking a fine line. Her fear radiated from her, even as she hid it under a veneer of the anticipation and eagerness that she'd used in her first characterization. It was a masterful display.
As the lights went dark at the end of the play, then rose for the actor's current call. The audience rose to their feet as one, clapping and shouting. Grissom rose as well, smiling broadly, and felt obscurely pleased when Morgan's eyes sought him out she bowed toward him.
A few minutes later the actors were in the lobby, along with members of the audience, being treated to a glass of champagne.
Grissom made his way to the lobby, looking for Morgan. And saw her talking to a couple of people. She looked up and caught his eye, excused herself, and came over to him.
"Gil," she said, smiling.
"You were wonderful, Morgan," he said in his soft, calm voice. "Your performance was a tour de force."
"Thank you. I thought it went pretty well, myself."
"The program said you got the idea from Amanda Cross. I've read that writer."
"Yes, in her book The Players Come Again. She had it all set out in there. Ever since I read it I thought it would make a great play, and would be a great piece for a female actress to show her range."
Grissom nodded. "It certainly does that. I think drama schools around the country will want to put that piece in their repertoire, just for that purpose."
"I'm so glad you think so. That's my dream, anyway."
They spoke for a few more minutes, than Grissom said, "I'd better let the rest of your admirers get a word in edgewise. I've got to go."
"Thanks again for coming."
"I wish I could come again..I'd love to see it again... and you. But I'm here for a conference, and I doubt if I'll be able to get away."
"Perhaps we could meet for lunch?"
Grissom smiled. "I'd like that." He reached into an inner pocket, and withdrew his business card, which was complete with his cellphone.
"Please call me, if you'd like. Now, I must go."
He touched her arm, then turned and walked out of the lobby.
Morgan looked down at the card. She read the words on it, and her forehead creased. "Crime Scene Investigation," she said, musingly.
Very thoughtfully, she tucked the card away, then turned smilingly toward another well-wisher.
NOTE
Much of the text of the Minotaur play was written by Amanda Cross in the mystery novel, The Players Come Again. I take the liberty of letting my character, Morgan, turn it into a play of her own (as it has long been a goal of mine to do so, but I just don't have the skill to write it!