The Call of the Furies

Hades stands alone in the centre of The Square, head lifted, nose upturned, an expression of intuitive curiosity painted across his face – something is not right in his City, and he knows it. Laocoön stumbles out from Divine Deities, chalk in hand, and begins to scratch an image (typically resembling that of the mouth of a riverbed), into the paving stones, at the foot of the Palladium doors. Midway into his sketch, he is interrupted by Hades who draws his attention instead to a deep crack running through the centre of the stone floor; something seemingly neither of them had noticed prior. In a quiet moment of shared mild concern, Hades rushes to Ciacco, whilst the potter promptly turns to his surrounding followers, and with an arm outstretched and hopeful eyes, silently pleads for someone to take his hand.

In the café, Hades leans across the countertop to a stunned Eurydice and informs her of the situation outside. She stands speechless, and slightly bewildered as to why she should care, before being eagerly prompted to pour the contents of a full glass whiskey bottle (sat on a tray, displayed on the counter) into his cupped palms – wide-eyed and baffled, she obliges, but just before the whiskey has a chance to spill out of his hands, he dashes back to The Square, wherein Laocoön has now amassed a sizable ring of WMs, hands piled one on top of the other, hovering above the crack. Swiftly Hades drops the liquid over the stacked hands, immediately disrupting the circle and sending it’s participants recoiling, as a rhythmic, throbbing and almost tribal drum beat begins to emanate across The Square, underscored with a layer of snake-like hissing and distorted monastic droning – this here marks the rallying cry of The Furies.

His ritual now officiated, Hades raises his arms into the air, summoning forth the incoming vengeful hellbenders, as the rest of his body seizes, and he begins steadily walking backwards out of The Square. With each deep drone sending the lights though a similarly pulsating pattern, the whole space appears to breath new life – dark, dangerous and foreboding, and with that new air established, Hecuba strides confidently across the floor, draped in her fur coat and followed closely by Polyxena, Polydorus, Macaria and Luba (all of whom actively luring their respective followers closer and leading them to form a vast circle around the previously drawn chalk-outline, left behind from the prior sacrifice). The thumping score soon begins to swell in volume and rapidity, as the pumping bass-line of Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix) by New Order bleeds through, before entirely drowning out all other noise.

The Square soon descends into a wild bacchanal of screeching and confused half-hearted dancing, lit only by harsh blue and white strobes, as the Trojans (now joined too by Eurydice) stumble aimlessly around the circle, willingly surrendering to their own madness, intoxicated by the buzz of the frenzy, and left thoroughly and fittingly punch-drunk. Lured from PEEP by a blood-soaked Kampe and one of the two PEEP Hosts, Polymestor staggers towards the far side of the circle (beside the large stack of barrels) strips off his jacket and joins in the rave.

Before long, the Trojans take their places inside the border of the circle and spring into the same choreography as seen in the Blinding of Polymestor in previous loops, meanwhile, Hecuba sits atop her throne overseeing the whole affair with a suitably vengeful and resentful gleam in her eye. The Furies soon break from their rave and urge Polymestor to join them in the centre, passing him aggressively between one another, disorientating him and forcibly pouring a cocktail down his throat – all the while Hecuba stalks the outside of the circle, slipping between the crowds of WMs, waiting for her cue to strike. Polymestor is eventually pinned down in an identical fashion as before, with Eurydice and the PEEP Host stepping away to crouch at the edges of the circle to watch on in horror, as the Queen pounces upon him and plucks his eyeballs from their sockets.

Wielding her newest trophies, Hecuba thrusts her fists into the air and continues to circle her blinded traitor, as the strobes snap between white and orange, and her accomplices peel out and crawl to the edges of the circle, with Kampe approaching a single WM and bestowing them with the martini glass, to hold. Now re-joined by Eurydice and the PEEP Host, the seven slowly and trepadiously get to their feet for a brief period of recovery, before bursting into a final frenetic routine – initially dashing, and then whirling around the circumference of the circle, before pivoting and beginning to run backwards, arms swinging and knees kicking up in unison, as Polymestor’s stomach-churning screams of anguish pierce through the uproar.

The frenzied spectacle soon comes to a close, with the music winding down and the lights settling into a single white spotlight, solely highlighting Hecuba as she stands alone in the centre. Kampe retrieves the martini glass from their chosen WM and holds it before the Queen, allowing her to drop the two gouged eyeballs into it, before sauntering across to stand beside the barrels – with the exception of the Host who makes their immediate return to PEEP, the remaining Trojans immerse themselves within the crowds. The discordant opening strings of Evey Reborn by Dario Marianelli, from the V for Vendetta OST, begin to ring out across The Square, as Hecuba stares down at her bloodied palms, shell-shocked. Hades and Persephone slowly approach from the outskirts of the circle, arms linked. Clutching a damp cloth, Persephone briefly breaks from her husband to greet the Queen, and with a reassuring smile gently wipes her hands clean, before briskly continuing on her way across The Square and exiting through the Palladium doors. The score begins to climb and swell, underscored by a trilling crisp cymbal and angelic vocals, as the Trojan Queen lifts her gaze, arms stretched ahead of her and a heavy flurry of white ash pours from the skies and rains over her. Her face washed with a look of complete submission, Hecuba leans backwards, embracing the downpour, and freezes, as the music reaches its climax, before gently fading away.

An Eye For An Eye

Once blinded, Polymestor begins to crawl from the circle, wailing in agony, as the PEEP Host briefly helps part the crowd, forming a narrow pathway for him, leading directly to the door of Hades’ Office, before heading back to PEEP. Sobbing and mumbling incoherently, he bursts his way through the door and hauls himself inside, leaving curious surrounding WMs free to follow him through. He begins to desperately feel his way across the floor, when his grasp soon falls on the rim of a metal ice bucket, tucked beside the left-hand-side cupboard displaying a plastic pomegranate. Underscored by the bleedthrough of Evey Reborn from outside, the office swells with the sound of warbling male choral voices, and the distorted ringing of a gong. He lugs the bucket, splashing water across the floor as he does so, and kneels before it, readying his dripping, blood-soaked hands for washing, when he hesitates for a moment and, arms outreached, blubbers “Can someone help me…please…?”.

He waits, trembling, until a brave WM volunteers and takes ahold of his open palms, wherein he swiftly plunges their hands into the cold water, and has them soak the white cloth, that lies draped over the edge of the bucket. He then guides them through splaying the cloth out across their palms, and raises their hands to his scarlet-spattered face, forcing them to push the cold compress firmly against his eyes. After a few moments of wincing and gasping into the cloth, he hesitantly raises his head and blinks his eyes open, meeting the immediate gaze of his saviour, as a tinny and uncanny, but nonetheless somewhat angelic, note rises from the score.

Polymestor heaves himself to his feet and surveys his surroundings, in a dumbstruck and trancelike state. For a few moments he trapses the office, glancing between the bucket and his drenched hands, before turning to be confronted with the image of ‘The Fall of the Damned’ that hangs behind Hades’ desk. With an expression that appears to read as both disbelief and yet also vague recognition, he inspects the painting more closely – all the while the choral soundscape begins to layer, with vocals overlapping as if to resemble that of the haunting cries of the depicted lost souls, calling him forth to meet his fate.

Eyes glazing over, he is overwhelmed with a wave of complete calm and understanding, as he looks back to the WM who helped him, and offers out his hand once more. In taking it, the WM is led out of the Office, through the Palladium Arcade, and accompanied all the way across to Mycenae to witness the Finale there. Typically, he remains with the WM throughout the entirety of the second Finale, holding their shoulders firmly and guiding them to the front line of the light circle, before delivering them a walk-out back to Troy, and unmasking them in PEEP.

Walk-Through

Just as the ash begins to fall, it is not uncommon for the various Trojans to approach a WM of their choosing from behind, take ahold of their shoulders and grasp them firmly throughout the final moments of the Finale – often squeezing tightly and seemingly pulling their shoulders up in time with the rising strings of the music, before gradually releasing pressure as the score dissipates.

From the concluding notes of Evey Reborn, bleeds through One More Kiss, Dear by Vangelis, from the Blade Runner OST, as each Trojan slowly lets go of their WM’s shoulders, and readjusts themselves to be stood in front of them, wherein they each offer them a hand. In accepting the offer, the WMs are guided through a brief, partnered slow-dance, in the middle of the circle, before being personally escorted through the Palladium doors and all the way across to Mycenae. Those who are not chosen for a walk-through, typically are still also allowed to pass through the corridors to Greece too. Hecuba remains frozen throughout all of this, and does not provide a walk-through.

Upon reaching No Man’s Land, WMs will find the Mycenae Finale to already be in full-swing, with performers halfway down the staircase already. Those receiving a walk-through will be placed in a spot among the gathering crowds, prompted to look up at the damned souls on their descent, before being gently dispatched by their guide.