The Exile is a musical in 2 acts, with book by Edward Swardt and music and lyrics by Eric Swardt. The story starts on freedom day celebrations, ten years after the first democratic election in South Africa, when Tyler, a young man who grew up without a father, learns from his mother that his father went into exile and dedicated his life to the liberation of the country. When Tyler observes how his mother's is friend misbehaves, Tyler decides to search for his father and bring him back.
The exile can be performed by 8 actors. The lead roles are
Tyler, a young man looking for his father
Melissa, Tyler's friend
Pamela, Tyler's mother
Hugo, Tyler's father who went into exile
The supporting roles are
Anthony, Pamela's friend
Cathy, Hugo's friend
Neil, Hugo's friend
Manual, Hugo's friend
The cast of The exile can further be extended to include extra roles for a young Hugo and a young Pamela. The actors can double roles to perform in the chorus line, or a seperate chorus can include anything from 4 to 10 characters. All roles are for adult actors.
The music can ideally be performed by a 6 piece band with drums, bass, 2 guitars, piano and keyboards, but depending on the available budget, the keyboard parts can be performed by a larger orchestra, including up to 24+ String (Violins, Violas, Celi), 3 winds (Oboe, flute, clarinets) and 4 brass (Trumpets, trombones)
Today we want to look at the final song of this musical. This is the song that brings everything to a close. This is what this whole play is about. This is what the Odyssey is about. Just like Telemachus has set himself free from the suitors who ransacked his home by bringing his father back, Tyler has set his home free from Anthony, the suitor, by doing the same. Hugo is now free by returning home, free from the spell of Cathy - just like Ulysses who was set free from Calypso's spell. Even Anthony is now free to so what he wants. He can now go out and drink every night, play pool, and pass out wherever he wants.
In the background of this tale is also the story of a whole nation that was set free. We have seen how the country was struggling under an apartheid regime, and how the things have changed.
Nothing is however perfect as in the forever-after-land fairy tales. Democracy has its problems. Hugo and Pamela still have a long way to go before life can really be normal again.
From the title of this song it is not hard to figure out what this song is all about. This is an conversation between Hugo and Anthony. It is not exactly a leasurely friendly conversation.
In the previous scene, Pamela told Anthony what she wants his to do if he wants to marry her. Now, Hugo is simply reminding him of what the challenge is. If he accepts, Hugo will take off and leave them to be. If he forego the challenge, he must leave and never bother Pamela again.
The song follows a simple variation of the AABA song form (more like AAAB AABA B). Most of the song is a question and resonse type song. The two character alternates to sing a verse each at a time.
At the end, Anthony decides that what Pamela is asking of him does not suit his lifestyle. In his view, he will have to give up his freedom and be her slave. Finally, Hugo tells him to take off and never returns.
We are now nearing the final scene of our story. Anthony has been living with Pamela for some time now. He does not have a job. He drinks a lot, stay out late night with his friends playing pool, and just pass out in awkward places.
Pamela had no alternative. She allowed Anthony to take advantage of her just because she did not want to end up all alone. Now things have changed a bit. Hugo appeared on the scene. Now Pamela has a choice.
In the previous song, Hugo told Anthony that he is not welcome anymore. Anthony however told Hugo to get lost, as it is not his choice who should stay with Pam. She is the only one who can make that choice.
In this scene, Pam steps up. She is however not telling Anthony outright to take his bag and walk. She is giving Anthony a last chance by telling him that she will marry him if he gets a job and start to behave.
Hugo is back. All formalities are now dealt with. Tyler made up with his mom. His mom made up with Hugo, and Hugo... Well Hugo now have to deal with the realities.
Tyler has already told Hugo about everything that was going on, and especially about his mother's business with Anthony.
Hugo now approaches Anthony to confront him. Anthony is however not going to disappear that easily.
In act 2, Hugo returned home with Tyler. When they arrived back at Pamela's home, Tyler explained to Pamela where he's been. Then Hugo entered.
After an awkward moment, Hugo and Pamela started talking about all the years since he left her. One most important piece of the puzzle had to finished now. Hugo wanted to know why Pamela lied to him. Why did she never tell him about their son?
After clearing up the most important details, Pamela tells Hugo that she missed him.
PAMELA
(1A)
WHEN I NEEDED YOU, YOU LEFT ME ALONE
YOU LEFT ME TO BRING UP A CHILD ON MY OWN
ALL THESE YEARS YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT HOME
WHEN I NEEDED YOU
HUGO
(2B)
PLEASE FORGIVE ME I WAS NOT ALL AT FAULT
I LEFT IN CIRCUMSTANCE BEYOND MY CONTROL
WHEN I LEFT THAT DAY YOU TOLD ME TO GO AWAY
WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME A CHILD'S ON THE WAY
PAMELA
(3C)
WHEN YOU LEFT YOU TOLD ME TO FORGET ABOUT YOU
HOW COULD I WITH YOUR CHILD TO REMIND ME?
EVERY DAY I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD WALK THROUGH THE DOOR
ALL THAT HOPE WAS JUST IN VAIN
HUGO
(4D)
I DID NOT KNOW. I WAS NOT TOLD
IF I KNEW I WOULD HAVE RETURNED TO YOU
YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME
PAMELA
(5D)
IF I SAID A WORD THINGS WOULD HAVE BEEN OBSCURED
YOU WOULD HAVE STAYED AND LET YOUR DREAMS SLIP AWAY
We have closed act 1 at the pivotal point in our story. Tyler went all the way to London to find his father. Even though Hugo dreams about his home country, he could not immediately agree to return with Tyler. However, after learning the truth, he recalls the promises he made. The next morning, he decided to return home.
That was where act one ended. In act two, we will follow him home and find out what happens.
Scene one opens where Hugo is wakes up the first morning in South Africa. As he walks around outside, he is surprised with how much has changed over the years.
Today we look at a "dream sequence" song. (A name I just made up).
Hugo is confused. What he believed for so many years now suddenly seems to have been a lie. Many of his actions were motivated by this lie.
That night, when he went to bed, he did not sleep very well. With all these thoughts milling through his mind, he eventually fell asleep. His dreams took him back all the years before he left South Africa.
He dreamed about Pamela. He dreamed about the times they were together and the promises he made.
While Tyler and his father catch up on years lost, Melissa and Cathy is talking in another room. Cathy is not somebody who gives anybody much time to explain anything. If Melissa sounds like she is getting tired of repeating herself, it is for good reason.
Melissa pleads with Cathy to let Hugo return to South Africa. Cathy does not give in that easilly, but eventually concedes that it is Hugo's choice, and if he wants to go, she will not stand in his way.
In Talk about democracy we discussed the conflict and dialogue song format. Here we have yet another example of a dialogue song. Is essence, the dialogue song is a form of a duet. This simply means 2 persons are singing in the song. Duets can come in many forms, most comonly, where one person sing one part and another person sings a different part, but not at the same time, i.e. taking turns.
Musicals have many examples of different forms of duets, e.g. where the persons sing different lines, but at the same time. That is a technique liberally employed by Schonberg in the musical Les Miserable. A third and much more common form of duet is where the two persons sing at the same time, but they sing basically the same words, but different notes. This is simply refered to as harmonizing.
We are left with many questions after the previous scene where Hugo met Tyler. Why did Hugo leave his country? Why was he not aware of the existence of his child? Why did he not return to his country after democratic elections?
In the first verse, Hugo fills us in about his love affair with Pamela. They were from difference worlds. She was a poor worker and he was a richman's son. However, that is not the reason why he left. He makes a revelation. He had some plans to stand up against the regime at the time, but Pamela did not want to join. According to Hugo, Pamela told him that she was pregnant, but she told him that it was not his child.
Now we understand his actions a little bit better, but this raises many new questions about Pamela's motives. Why did she tell Tyler a completely different version of events? With all these questions in their minds, Tyler and Melissa will have to confront Pamela again when they return.
In the third verse, Hugo tells us about his fight for freedom. The country was n a bad shape as everybody was turning against the government. Hugo felt personally hurt by the class differences that was forced down upon him. He wanted to join the fight.
You hear a familiar melody in the third verse. As Hugo tells us about his fight against the regime, we use the same theme as when Pamela told us about Hugo's flight in into exile.
Don't forget, you can follow the whole musical scene by scene, in chronological order, from this page (see menu bar at top)
Finally, some comments about the song form. As you may have noticed by now, I do not like everything to be the same. I do not stick to a single song form. Yes, I do follow the trends and rules, but only to some extend. In musicals, my objective is not to write pop songs which has top 40 hit potential only. I do not mind getting to the top of any charts, but only if that suits my purpose of advancing my story. A sing-a-long chorus would have been totally put of context for this song. Verse 1 and verse 2 shares the same harmonic structure, with verse 3 introducing the familiar melody from another song. This makes it a AAB song form, composed in two parts, i.e. the A part, reapeating again, but with some variation in lyrics and melody, and then the B part that repeat some themes within itself. This is a form not very commonly heard on hit parades, but not completely unknown.
Take a listen to the beautifull instrumental song, Europa by Carlos Santana, which employs a very similar song structure.
In the meanwhile.... Let's return to our story at the fourth song on the concept album recording.
In the previous scene we left Tyler searching for his father, Hugo. Now it is time for us to meet Hugo in person. We have heard much about Hugo. In Freedom day we learnt that he was a hero. In Talk about democracy Tony told us thaat he left us on our own. Pamela then told us how they met in I recall. This is the first time that we give him a chance to speak for himself. He is far away from South Africa, but where is his real home? He faught for the the freedom of the country, but what did he get from it? Is he really free?mdoes he still think about the possibility of going back home?
Quoted directly from the script.*
HUGO sits on the balcony of an apartment, looking out over London, while the sun is setting. CATHY enters.
CATHY
Are you feeling ill, darling? You ate so halfheartedly.
HUGO stares out at the horizon and the setting sun. He is holding his pipe in his hand, resting on his lap.
HUGO
It is nothing, my dear.
CATHY
It can not be nothing if it troubles you so. Is it I? Was it something that I have done? I knew mother should not have come to visit two weeks ago!
HUGO
I am so fortunate to have one such as yourself, you know? If it weren't for you I would still be lost, all those years ago.
CATHY
I too, am fortunate my darling. However I know that you have troubled dreams. It may have been I that got you back on your feet, but I am aware that it is not I that keep you here.
HUGO
Nightmares.
CATHY
And nightmares they will stay if you don't tell someone of it, my darling. Tell me what has troubled you. Show me!
Tyler and Melissa arrives in London. They go straight to the South African High commissioner. Here they meet Manual.
Manual tells them that they had a big celebration party for the 10 year celebration just a few days back. And yes, one of the guests was his dear friend, Hugo. In fact, Hugo still regularly attends their Sunday brunch meetings.
They sit down and Manual tells them all about Hugo and where he is. He however cautions them not to put hopes on him returning to South Africa. Hugo has a new life in London and seems quite happy.
After almost feeling hopeful, doubt is once again settling in with Tyler. Maybe he should not have been so bold as to come all the way, just to mess things around for somebody, who obviously do not care about him.
Melissa is not unsettled that easy. She convince Tyler to keep going and visit his father. They get the address from Manual.
Back to our story. Last time that we have seen Tyler, he and Melissa started their search for his father, Hugo. Melissa's dad, Neil, could not help them, but he recalled the good and bad times of the struggle.
If you do not know the story of apartheid, you can read all about it all over the Internet. Wikipedia is usually a good start. Our story is however not a political rant. The part we are mostly concerned about here is the role that those in exile played.
Neil and Hugo went to London, where they joined the struggle movements that were being established over their. Whenever South African visitors came to London, representing the country, the struggle movement organised protest marches. Eventually they succeeded in banning South African sports teams from participating in international events.
The students had lots of fun, streaking unto the rugby pitches, getting painted purple with large water cannons and getting arrested. It all paid off for them after many years in swaying the opinion of general public against the South African government, bringing about sanctions, and eventually democratic elections.
Fast forward. Tyler is still looking for his father. As Neil gives them all these details, it does not give him hope about finding his father.
They decided to take a leap. He now knows that his father is somewhere in London. If you want to find somebody, you will have to go to where that person was last seen. Sounds good.
So Tyler and Melissa get on their crusade. Tyler do not have a whole bag of money, but lucky he knows somebody who can sponsor him.
In the next scene, they arrive in London, but where do they start? Well, that can not be so difficult, can it. Start at the obvious place. Where would ex-South Africans be?
We will find out in the next scene, "a Matter of import, part 2".
During the 1980's, South Africa experienced what was known then as the "brain drain". Many young South Africans left the country to settle overseas. Favourite destinations were Australia and England. Many of those young people contributed a great deal to the eventual end to apartheid in South Africa. After democratic elections in South Africa, many of those who lived in exile returned to South Africa. These young people received good education at overseas universities and eventually helped to reverse the brain drain to some extend. Those who joined the 'official' struggle movement while in exile were rewarded with positions in the new government.
Meet Neil, one of those young men. Neil left the country with Hugo and settled in London, where he received a degree in law. While in exile, Neil met and married an English girl. They had one daughter whom they named Melissa.
When Melissa was about 8 years old, her family relocated back to South Africa, where her dad got a job in the new government and became a member of the new Parliament.
Ten years later, the day after the freedom day celebrations, Melissa, with her friend, Tyler, arrived at her home to talk to her father, who is in their lounge.
At the freedom day celebrations the previous day, Tyler made up his mind. He wants to bring his father back to South Africa. Melissa told him to stop talking and do something about it. She suggested that they
should go see her father, Neil who might know where he is.
Track: A matter of import part 1
Album: Unpublished (From the musical, The exile)
Artist: Eric
Swardt
With that background, the lyrics of this song is self explanatory. After the introductions, Tyler states his business and Neil offers to assist. In the last verse Neil reflects on his memories of Hugo, which is covered in detail in the song which follows immediately after this one.
After Pamela told Tyler all she knows about his father, Tyler returns to the main room, where Anthony and his friends are having a rave of a party. Anthony is drunk and swears at Pamela for not bringing drinks fast enough.
Tyler has to control his temper and turns around again and enters the kitchen. Melissa notice Tyler's mood and follows him into the kitchen. Melissa starts the next song.
Track: Singing comes cheap
Album: Unpublished (From the musical, The exile)
Artist: Eric Swardt
Melissa
(1a)
I hope you will not be offended
by what I am about to say for singing comes cheap to those who do not pay and all this is done at the cost of one who has done so much to dedicate his life so we can be free today
In the first verse Melissa addresses Tyler about the bad behaviour of Anthony and his friends.
Tyler
(2b)
If this man here were to see
my father come back to me he would pray for longer legs to carry him away
(3b)
And soon you all will see
my father coming back to me You will cry for singing comes cheap to those who do not pay
Tyler states that he wish his father to return.
Melissa
(4c)
Your father is still far away
Some doom is keeping him in that place against his own will a prisoner of ill fate I do not know if this ends well It is your story that you have to tell It's in your hands to make your father come home
Melissa is the one who points out to Tyler that his father is not about to come back all by himself. It is up to Tyler to take control of the situation.
Tyler
(5b)
If he really loves this country
so much that all can see he would pray for the first plane to come back home again
Tyler is considering Melissa's words and contemplates that Hugo must surely be wanting to come back to South Africa. After all, he has been fighting for the freedom of the land and he is a national hero.
(6b)
Anthony just wait
soon we'll set things straight You will cry for singing comes cheap to those who do not pay
Now he addresses Anthony (who is drunk and rowdy in the other room) and states that he will set thing straight. Tyler is kicking into action.
(7a)
I wish I knew where he is
and if he think about me I wonder if he will come back if I ask him And some will say he is their hero great but to me he is just a name He left us all alone without a house or home
(8b)
I know not what chains of steel
is holding him away from me Far away all while this man is feasting on my land
(9b)
I wish my father could stand
here to give me a helping hand You will cry for singing comes cheap to those who do not pay
Now that Tyler has made up his mind that he will do something, he starts to think about how he is to do it. He wants to find Hugo, but he has no idea where to start.
Melissa
(10c)
To me it seems you do
want your father to come back to you It is in your hands to ask him to return You know that you can be free from your mother's and your misery It's in you fate to go and make yourself a name
(11b)
Just get up and be on your way
There is so much more to gain My father was there on that day when they went away
Melissa states her support for Tyler. Melissa is the daughter of Neil, who also went into exile. Neil returned to South Africa after the democratic elections and now has a senior job as a member of parlaiment in the new government. Melissa is suggesting that this could be a good place to start looking for Hugo.
Tyler
(12b)
And soon you all will see
my father coming back to me You will cry for singing comes cheap to those who do not pay
(13b)
So Anthony you'll see
this house will soon be free You will cry for singing comes cheap to those who do not pay
Melissa has given Tyler hope. He is now determined to follow up on the lead that Melissa has given him.
In part 1 of this series, we saw how the Odyssey by Homer was the initial inspiration behind The exile. Now, let's get some insights into how the story was changed from a 2,000 year old tale into a modern story.
I decided to cut it all down to the spline of the story. Many of the scenes in the Odyssey can form the basis for some scenes in my story, but we there will not be enough time to dwell too much on them. I had to become ruthless about changes to the story. I could not let the Odyssey get in the way of a good story. Whenever it suited me, I made changes. After all, I am a story teller, not a journalist, and there are no real truths in a story that does not exist yet.
The chapters of the Odyssey can be grouped into three sections, 1) the search for Ulysses 2) Ulysses's journey into exile and 3) Ulysses's return. The exile will follow a similar outline, i.e. Tyler's search for his father, Hugo's back story of going into exile, and Hugo's return home.
In the Odyssey, Homer has the war hero, Ulysses. I have Hugo for this role. We had the Trojan war in the Odyssey to form the backdrop of the story. In modern South Africa we had the fight against apartheid. In the Odyssey, Ulysses was in exile on an island. In South Africa, many people left the country to live in exile on an island overseas. The two most popular destinations were, Australia and Britain. I had to make a choice there, and chose Britain. Australia would have worked as well, as the anti-apartheid movement was just as strong over there.
Homer starts the Odyssey with Zeus, the great god, calling on the muse to tell him about Ulysses, the war hero who never returned home. He then gives Minerva permission to free Ulysses and allow Ulysses to return home.
In the first draft of The Exile I had Zuma (Zeus), the president of South Africa, calling the journalists (modern day muses) to fill him in on the detail of the war hero Hugo (Ulysses). After hearing the story, he grants permission to Melissa (Minerva), to go find Hugo. This introduction to the story however soon got canned. There are too many caveats in that scene, and besides, it did not really add anything to the story. The basic test for any scene is: if I leave this scene out completely, would it change or hurt the story in any way? This scene could not pass this test, and was therefore canned. It only added the need for extra characters and extra stage sets, which will not be needed anywhere else in the story. That just adds cost, even though, admittedly, it woulds have made an interesting introduction.
In the Odyssey Homer moves on to Minerva meeting up with Telemachus at a party at Penelope's home, and telling him to get off his backside and go search for his father. This scene is very important, as it provides the real kick-off to the rest of the tale, so I decided to use this as my opening scene. As we dismissed the original opening scene, we needed to get some connection between Melissa, who get the story into action, and Tyler, who is the one who must take the action. The Odyssey sowed enough seeds to allow for a love story between Telemachus and Minerva, so I decided to use that angle and make Melissa Tyler's girlfriend.
In the initial drafts, the occasion for the party was the first democratic elections celebrations in South Africa. Later on we changed this to become the 10 year celebrations. That gave us some space to add some extra plot elements to our story.
From that point onwards the story started to fall into place. Calypso became Cathy in The exile. Menelaus became Manual, Penelope became Pamela and we did away with a whole lot of extras.
Many side stories from the Odyssey were canned for the sake of relevance and to shorten the story. In the Odyssey, the back story is made up by many chapters about Ulysses's travels from Troy until he got stuck in exile. I brought all of that back story down to the only a few songs. I needed enough back story to make my audience understand why he did what he did and how he came to be in exile. There was not enough space to give all the saucy details. All the war scenes and protest march songs got canned.
The back story is broken up in a few short passages, and spread them around. First we give Pamela a chance to tell her side of the story in "I recall" and "Into Exile". We'll have Neil telling us his story in "From afar", and later on will Manual take the story further in "A matter of import". Finally, Hugo will give us the final crucial details in "A long long time" and "Memories long forgotten".
In the fourth song of the musical, The exile, Pamela starts to fill us in on the back story. As we will see throughout the musical, we have not cramped the whole back story into one shot. The story is being unravelled, one bit at a time.
Even though the title may suggest that this song is about Hugo going into exile, it really is about Pamela's back story. In the previous song, I recall, she gave us her viewpoint on Hugo and their love story. This time we want to know her life story.
Album: The Exile, concept album recording
Artist: Eric Swardt
The song is a standard AABA song form, i.e. it has 2 verses, a bridge and then a verse repeated. No Chorus. Though pop music lovers may find this strange, this form is fairly common in musicals.
(1a)
You were still an unborn child
when he went into exile
and left me here on my own
When he went to the unknown
I wondered why he left so quick
There was no time to try to understand
ever since that dreadful time
All that I could do was sit and cry
ever since he went into exile
The lyrics of the first verse speaks for itself. Pamela is addressing Tyler directly in this song. The lyrics is in a very direct style and no real attempt was made to hide subliminal messages. Throughout this song you will however have to listen carefully for some very important hints about Pamela and Hugo. In the first verse, take note when Pamela is innocently telling Tyler "I wondered why he left so quick". In a song much later in this story you will get some further insight into those words.
(2a)
From that day he spent his life
to dedicate to discord and strife
for the freedom of this land
while I was left here on my own
I knew that he would not return
Day after day and years were rolling on
I had to care for my child
but I was still a child myself
on that day he went into exile
This verse starts off telling us about Hugo and how he became a freedom fighter, but once again she turns the attention back to herself by telling us about her own suffering as a young teenage single mother.
(3b)
In all those years things went astray
when the government put our leader in jail
and they were on their way
to take this place down the drain
We were the scum of humanity
Slaves in our own beautiful country
We could not even walk
free on the street or free on the beach
In the bridge of this song we turn the attention away from Pamela's personal life a bit and start to fill you in on the political situation. The leaders were jailed and the country was headed for disaster. The reality of the apartheid policy was that they were not treated as equal human beings.
(4a)
Through all these years I gave you a home
even though I was all alone
In all these years you were the one
who gave me strength to carry on
The years went by I worked each day
a simple job as the master's maid
and all I had I spent upon
the schooling of my only son
since that day he went into exile
In the last verse Pamela turns the attention back to her again. The story she is telling here is a very common story in South Africa during those times. As a single mother, to survive and send her child to school, she had to work as a domestic worker for a below minimum wage.
The story behind how the story of The exile developed has almost as many twists and turns as the story itself. In this series I will take you down the road how The exile started off, what the inspiration behind it was, and how it got to where it is.
Even though The exile is an original idea by myself, it did not magically one day pop out and came to be. I got help from a lot a people to get it where it is now.
My first attempt to write a musical was to adapt Homer's classic, the Odyssey. In case you do not know, the Odyssey is a 24 book poem that tells the story of Telemachus, the son of Ulysses (sometimes also called Odysseus), going on a long trip in search of his father. Ulysses was living in exile on an island far away, under the the spell of the goddess, Calypso. The goddess Minerva was given permission by the great god, Zeus, to help Telemachus in his mission to save Ulysses and bring him back home. Seeing any connection here?
In The Odyssey, Homer goes into great detail about Ulysses's journey. He left his home just after Telemachus's birth to join the war against Troy, where he became famous for building a big wooden horse, inside of which they hid. When the Trojans took the horse inside their city walls, Ulysses and his men popped out and sacked the city. Heard the story somewhere? This has been the basis for many movies. If ever you wondered where the term 'Trojan horse' came from - now you know?
There are many more stories of Ulysses's travels in the Odyssey, which you may recognize. What about the one where Ulysses met this one-eyed giant who started eating his friends. Ulysses gave the giant some wine to drink, to make the tasteless humans taste better. As the giant got drunk and fell asleep, Ulysses whacked a huge burning spike into the giant's eye, blinding him and giving them the chance to escape.
You may also have heard the story about the Sirens, or by many believed to be mermaids, who sang this most beautiful song. Whenever sailors heard the song they abandoned the steering of their ships, which had disastrous results as the ships ran into the rocks. Note, I am not talking about a certain Italian casino cruiser here. There is also a story about an island of the living dead, which Ulysses had to visit to get directions back home. This could be the origin of all zombie movies today.
Here are some good links if you are interested in reading more about the Odyssey:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html
Just as I would regard Tolkien as the father of many modern legends, Homer can be be regarded as the father of many classic tales and legends. Homer lived only about 2,000 years before Tolkien.
You may not find it difficult to see why this epic tale inspired me. Trying to adapt this epic tale to a musical would however have been be a life long venture. A honorable goal to be pursued indeed.
I started writing songs based on each of the books of the Odyssey. The initial songs were just instrumental pieces. I started writing what would have been the first of 24 half-hour musicals. Each musical would have covered one of the books from the Odyssey. I soon realized that I have to get more realistic. Nobody is going to sit through a full 12 hour musical. Wagner almost pulled a similar trick off, but he was kind of already famous by that time. This all had to be brought down to no more than 2 to 3 hours. Next thing was to make this more relevant for people today. I had to find a way to make this story fit into a modern world. Stories about boys with winged sandals, who changes into pretty young ladies whenever they feel like it may not touch the souls of many people today.
This was the start of The exile.
In part 2 of the journey from the Odyssey to The Exile, I will tell you how I shortened the 12 hour story down to a 2 hour story.
Album: The Exile, concept album recording
Artist: Eric Swardt
The party is going on. The guests are having a good time. Anthony is entertaining them, talking louder, as he gets drunker, and making less sense. Typical South African holiday scene! Pamela is cleaning up and serving the guests - with the help of Melissa.
Melissa is Tyler's girlfriend. She is by far the best dressed guest around. It is obvious she, or at least her father, has a little more money than the other guests. Tyler feels a little wounded after the episode with Tony. He opened old wounds, reminding Tyler about his father, or rather lack of.
Tyler takes his mother to the one side where he can talk to her in a little more privacy. He ask her about his father. She explains that his father, Hugo, left them before Tyler was born. He went to London during the apartheid times to join the fight against the regime from abroad.
When Tyler asks his mother if she still thinks about Hugo, she replies with this song.
"I recall the first time that I saw him
just like it was yesterday again
and I fell in love with him
but that love was doomed that day
we were from different worlds
different times, different roads apart"
She is telling him that the affair was not an usual affair. They were from different worlds.
"Yes, I do recall that day when we met
Yes I still recall his face
I can see his face each time
when I look into your eyes, my son
how can I ever forget
He was my first love I had
it's just like yesterday
I recall, I recall his face
Yes I do recall his face every day"
Pam is reminded of that love affair every day when she sees Hugo in his son's eyes.
This is more than just a love song. This song tells us more Hugo. In the opening song we first had a hint about Hugo, the hero. In the second song we heard that he left them. Now it is time for Pam to tell us her side of the story.
"He left us for the unknown
He left us for that place across the sea
He said there's only one way
that he could make a difference to anything
and that is by leaving this all behind"
In this verse we changed the melody a little bit. Take note of this melody. You will hear it again later on, as it will be used as a theme for Hugo, the exile.
In the next verse Pam takes us back once more to her feeling for Hugo.
"I recall he made me feel so special
He made me feel like a real woman
for the first time in my life
I recall his face, his touch
I remember his voice
I recall, I recall his kiss
on that fateful day
that day when we met"
She tells us about Hugo's motive for leaving them. He wanted to make a difference. He wanted to change things.
"Oh yes he believed that he could
make a difference to it all"
In the climax of this song (once again using Hugo's theme) Pam directly answers Tony's accusations against Hugo. In the previous song Tony said that Hugo ran away. Pam tells us that he did not run away, but rather ran into the heat of the fire.
"Your father was no coward
No he did not run away
he took the fight to a new stage"
In the first song we first hinted about the exile. He was a hero, but we did not know where he was, what he did or why was he not at the party.
Album: The Exile, concept album recording
Artist: Eric Swardt
In the second song of the musical. and also the second song on the concept album recording, we are developing our story further. In the opening song we have established the time and place. We also introduced the audience to our characters. At this stage you do not know who these characters are yet. We hinted to Pamela and her son, Tyler and we had a reference to Tyler's father, Hugo, as the hero of the story. Now we want to develop our characters a bit more.
In this song we are getting into the specifics. We are introduced in detail to Tyler and Anthony.
While we talk about democracy, let's talk about song form. This song is what I would call a conflict song. Though not all musicals have it, it is not completely uncommon. The purpose of a conflict song is to establish conflict. All good musicals have some conflict. There are many ways to establish this conflict. Here we are doing it in a dialogue manner. It is very common in new age musicals to use a song for characters to talk to each other. Some sung-through musicals makes liberally use of recitative to sing-talk through dialogue. This musical is not a sung-through, but it does have some recitative. Here we have opted not for recitative, but for another variation, i.e. the dialogue song. This is where the characters address each other, but through a formally composed and structured song.
The song is a standard AABA song form (The AABA refers to the melody structures). The form is repeated with another AABA and then we've added a coda, or C section at the end, giving us the full AABA AABA C form for this song.
Enough about the technical songwriting stuff. Now about the song. As mentioned, this is a conflict song with Tyler and Anthony. Here we develop the characters further. First we start with Tyler. He has been for an unsuccessful job interview.
"People talk about democracy
and all the wonders that elections bring
but I can not even find a job
Is this just a hypocrisy?"
Next we have Anthony chipping in. Anthony is living in Pamela's house. He does not have a job. He is a real slob, and is negative about anything.
"So what do you want from democracy
Do you want me to wipe your ass"
Tyler immediately answers back. He is telling us that he does not regard Anthony as any authority, even though he is living in the house with his mother.
"Oh well you are one to criticise
You do not have any class"
Tyler continues into the next verse. He tells us that he still have some hope for this democracy to work out fine:
"They promised us a better life
It is all not just a scam"
Next we have Tyler and Anthony agreeing on something at least. They both see where the problem with this new democracy lies:
"Politicians just want your vote
but they don't give a damn"
Tyler (with the rest of the company in chorus) then takes the character development further. They are telling us that they are not content with the situation. They takes control of their problems. Our purpose here is not to tell the audience what the res of the night's story is about, but rather to establish Tyler's character. Unlike Tony, who just complains about everything, he takes responsibility and declares his loyalty towards the country.
"I can not stand this anymore
We must find a way to end this strife
Our fathers brought us this democracy
I must protect it with my own life"
Now we are getting into the real conflict. We have established Tyler as a strong character. Now we have Tony swearing at him and telling him what he thinks of him. He obviously have no love for Tyler, whom he regards as a little brat.
"Tyler you big mouth and brainless fool
You do not know what is going on
and you think you are the one
but you are really not so cool"
Then Tony continues to tell us how negative he is. Unlike Tyler, who takes responsibility, Tony just moans and blames everybody else.
"and it is not safe to walk the streets
The filth is lying all around our feet
This town is lying in the ditch
Politicians are getting rich"
Now we have Tony continuing and telling us some more about Tyler's father. In the opening song we have already talked about him as the hero. Now we have Tony's viewpoint.
"Your father left you in this strife
and made a run for his life
and you will follow in his trail
In your life you will fail"
This is totally the opposite from what Pamela told us about Tyler's father. This confirms Tony as a negative slob, but also confirms that he is in conflict with everybody else, i.e. Tyler, Pamela and Tyler's father. Some of you would be able to see now how we are setting up an important plot element here.
Next we have Tyler again. He is now angry:
"I can not stand this anymore"
He is tells Tony that he is hurt by those words.
"Your tongue is cutting like a knife"
Then we have him giving us HIS view on his father. We now have hinted about Tyler's father a few times. We have done this through giving three different viewpoints about this man. By now we have also hinted clearly to who the exile is. After all. This is a story about an exile and we want to know more about him.
"I know my father left me on my own
to break out and find a better life"
In the last verse we are developing a plot point further. Tyler is angry. He is telling Tony that he will fight back. This is also moving the story line further. Musical writers talks about the "I am" and "I want" songs. here we have opted for the "I am" by developing the characters through the song. Now we establish the "I want" clearly. Tyler wants to get rid of Tony! This is what the rest of the night is all about.
"One day you'll fall
There shall be no one to share your load
or cry a tear for you
as your blood flows down the road"
In the nest song we will go into the backstory of the song. Who is this man we are talking about. Why did he leave us? Where did he left us to?
