Polydorus

Jordan Ajadi as Polydorus

## Appearence

### Clothing

Sequinned red and cream polo shirt/white vest, colourful tracksuit bottoms, cream knitted cardigan
Later: red thread necklace with a gold/silver milagro leaf charm

After death: Shirtless/white vest, tracksuit bottoms

### Seen In

The Tenement Area, Alighieri's department store, The Square, The Elysium Hotel, The Nightclub Office, Ciacco (The Cafe), The Nightclub, PEEP Bar, Troy

### Seen With

Cassandra, Macaria, Polyxena, Hecuba, Luba, Polymestor, Hades, Eurydice, Kampe, Apollo, Kronos, Peep Cabaret

## Relationship Information

### Family

Son to Hecuba, Brother to Polyxena & Cassandra, Brother-in-Law to Polymestor

## Cast

### Played By

Ferghas Clavey, Jahmarley Bachelor, Jordan Ajadi, Sharol Mackenzie, Theo Arran, Timothy John Bartlett

Polydorus is the sole surviving Prince of Troy, and youngest son to Queen Hecuba.

His story arc revolves around his pursuit to be taken seriously as the man of the house, and desire to join in the war effort. Under his brother-in-law Polymestor's orchestration, he is exposed to a world of debauchery, and promised the respect he desires.

## Loop

*Based on Loop 2*

He begins his loop emerging from the small cupboard, under the stairs in The Tenement Area, buttoning up his cardigan, when he is met by Cassandra who gifts him with a flower from Hesperides' Florist.

Taking the flower through to Alighieri's, he meets with Macaria, ahead of Polyxena's birthday party, as she finishes wrapping a gift. Without a present, Macaria teases and chastises Polydorus for his ill-preparedness, but ultimately allows him to take her gift instead (a purple leather jacket), and feign it as his own. As Polyxena arrives, the three youngsters playfully chat amongst themselves, until the siblings are called to The Square by Hecuba, and beckoned over to join her on the throne of Palladium seats. The three sit together happily, marvelling at Polyxena's gift and savouring Luba's operatic serenade, from the Palladium balcony. Polymestor eventually arrives to merrily celebrate with the family, as Eurydice pours them all drinks; with the party culminating in Polymestor attempting to drag Polydorus away from the others. \**, \*\**

Accompanied by Polyxena and Macaria, Polydorus is led through the Troy backstreets by Polymestor and informed of a party happening upstairs. The three giddily make their way through The Elysium Hotel, to The Nightclub Office, where they are greeted by Kampe, who seduces them into indulging in a strong psychoactive drink. A concerned Cassandra bursts into the office, and attempts to warn the intoxicated Polydorus of a terrible vision, before being lured away by Apollo.

In a drunken, yet also dream-like stupor, Polydorus stumbles back through The Tenement Area, eventually making his way to Ciacco's. Here, he enacts a premontion of his own death in front of Hecuba, first consoling her, before writhing across The Square floor in pain - suddenly he stands, seemingly snapping out of his dazed state and unaware of how he got there. A terrified Hecuba clutches her son and swears to take him to Polymestor, whom she believes will keep him safe.

Reluctantly hauled to The Nightclub Office, Polydorus attempts to disaude his mother from putting him in Polymestor's care, protesting that he wants to help fight in war against the Mycenaeans instead, but is repeatedly shut down.

Once in the office, Hecuba gifts Polymestor with a box of jewels, including her golden headdress, in exchange for his promise to protect Polydorus. After being urged to pray to a large golden Moloch statue, Hecuba leaves, as Polydorus is placed in Polymestor's office chair given a drink, and encouraged to watch Kampe dance through the Klub window. Hypnotised by the alluring sight, Polydorus drinks and continues to watch curiously, as Polymestor joins Kampe in a dance, in The Nightclub, unaware of Kronos lurking behind him. As Kronos approaches, Polydorus becomes seemingly possessed by him and begins to move erractily around the office, with Kronos eventually adorning him with a red thread necklace, decorated with a milagro leaf charm, marking him as his property. Polymestor, shaken from his confrontation with Kronos, returns to The Nightclub Office and pulls back the carpet on the office floor, to reveal a window looking down over the audience in PEEP, and shows this to Polydorus, encouraging him to go down there and "show them what he can do". \*\*\*

Determined to prove his maturity, Polydorus is guided downstairs to PEEP by Kampe, where he is greeted by the Peep Cabaret Hosts who announce that they are there to "make (his) dreams into a reality"; the three then take to the stage, donning sparkly miltary jackets, and perform a miltary-style dance to 'Nautilus'.

Elated and buzzing from the high of his performance, Polydorus exits PEEP and takes to the Troy backstreets, where he bumps back into Polydmestor, who begins taunting him, eventually coaxing into play 'bull-fighting' with him. As Polydorus begins to gain the upperhand, Polymestor willingly rewards the young boy with a potent Lotus Flower, but as he begins to hallucinate, places a poisoned one on his tongue, and tackles him as he writhes and chokes, in pain. \*\*\*\*\*, \*\*\*\*\*\*

Depending on the performer/s, he is then either:

1. Dumped into a trunk and wheeled by Polymestor, to the The Tenement Area
2. Carried over Polymestor's shoulder, to the The Tenement Area

Once in The Tenement Area, in his struggling death throes, Polydorus is dumped onto a large plastic tarpaulin, and dragged away into Room IIIIIII, by Kronos, and locked inside.

- Later **Polydorus** emerges from the room shirtless.

- He moves above the streets of Troy and appears intoxicated.

- At some point he mimes the blinding of Polymestor perched on top of the bin near the graffiti of a stag.

- He returns to The Tenement Area to reset by taking his shirt and waistcoat from a crate under the stairs and putting them on.

*\* Due to the shorter first loop, in Loop 1, he enters The Square with Hecuba and swiftly makes his way straight to The Nightclub Office, and meets with Polymestor from there. \*\* In Loop 3, Hades is also present for the celebration. \*\*\* During Loop 1, PEEP is not yet open, and so Polymestor will not reveal the window to Polydorus, and he will not perform his 'Nautilus' routine. Depending on the perfomer, they may instead choose to fill this time with an extended Kronos-possessed dance, or instead trash The Nightclub Office in a fit of frustration against Polymestor. \*\*\*\**

## 1:1s

Polydorus has two '1:1' scenes, including a walk-out.

At the very end of his loop, upon returning to The Tenement Area after parkour-ing his way through the Troy backstreets, Polydorus will take a WM into a private scene in the small cupboard under the Tenement stairs. After removing their mask, he sits them down on a small stool and sits across from them. With a tight grip on their hands, he will move in very closely and tell the WM of a story of a lion cub raised among lambs, who would eventually grow into a lion and go on to devour those whom he had loved and grown up with. As the story comes to a close, he will retrieve a small milagro leaf charm on a red thread (identical to the one he wears himself), place it in the WM's hand and promise that it will keep them safe, before guiding them back out into The Tenement Area.

Finally, upon the conclusion of the Troy Finale, Polydorus will stand behind a WM and hold them tightly, as sand falls from the sky, showering Hecuba. He will then take their hand and walk them through to Mycenae to watch the finale over there. After the second finale is finished, he will lead them back towards Troy, remove their mask, thank them for coming, and redirect them towards PEEP. *\**

*\* Some performers may lead a WM to the Mycenae Finale, before leaving them there.*

## Quotes

* *"Once upon a time, a shephard found a lion cub. Took it home. Let it suckle milk. Little lion-cub with the lambs. Let it play with his young ones. How they loved it. Cuddled it. Fondly nuzzled it. And the old folk smiled to see it scampering around - lion-cub, children and lambs here together, happily at play. The shepherd nursed the cub with tender care, in the crook of his arm, or on his lap. Softly it would sleep. How he laughed when the lion licked the shepherd's cheek. What a sight to see. Sweet, little thing. But nature shall not be hidden, and in time, the day of the lion dawned over the whole family. Screams rolled out, and from under the doors blood came running through... But this. With this you'll be safe."* **- to WM, in 1:1**

## Trivia

As of early November, Polydorus' costume underwent some changes, shifting from a plain white shirt, worn under a grey waistcoat and suit trousers, to the more vibrant, youthful outfit he now wears.

Polydorus is one of few characters that utilises gender-blind casting.

## Mythology

Polydorus is the youngest son to King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and brother to thirteen siblings (Cassandra and Polyxena being among them).

Several versions of his story exist but a common theme is that he was taken to Polymestor, along with a payment of gold, in case Troy fell during the war. After the fall of Troy, however, Polymestor killed Polydorus in order to keep the gold for himself. Hecuba proceeds to avenge her son’s murder by killing Polymestor’s sons and blinding him.

In Euripides' tragedy Hecuba, the ghost of Polydorus is a character. Polydorus’ ghost presents the prologue of the play, explaining that he was sent to Thrace under the protection of King Polymestor in case Troy fell. In Vergil's Roman epic The Aeneid, it is explained that Polymestor broke his pact with the Trojans and killed Polydorus in order to both keep the payment, and ingratiate himself with Agamemnon. The versions of the story differ in whether Polydorus' body was given proper burial rites, or not. In Hecuba, his body is left adrift at sea, whereas in The Aeneid he is given a proper burial by Aeneas.

In Fabulae, Polydorus does not die. He is instead entrusted to his sister Iliona the wife of Polymestor. In order to ensure his safety, lliona switches Polydorus with her own son, Deipylus. After the fall of Troy, Agamemnon offers Polymestor his daughter Electra in exchange for killing Polydorus. Polymestor agrees, but because of the switch by Iliona, he kills Deipylus instead. Meanwhile, Polydorus learns of his true parentage from Apollo and proceeds to blind and kill Polymestor at the urging of his sister, lliona.