(In a jungle, a Minotaur beast bursts on, roaring. It rampages around, sniffs the ground, and exits, running with a purpose.
King Theseus enters hurriedly from a different direction; in pyjamas; lights his way by a small oil lamp he holds; is fearful, bewildered by Minotaur roars; moves about aimlessly. Queen Hippolyta enters; in pyjamas; lights her way by a small oil lamp she holds.)

Hippolyta: Who's there?

Theseus: Hippolyta?

Hippolyta: Theseus?

Theseus: Yes, my love.

Hippolyta: Where are we? One minute I am in bed falling asleep in happiness at the thought tomorrow we are getting married, and the next I am in this dark place with this oil lamp in my hand.

Theseus: You describe exactly what has happened to me.

(Minotaur roars are heard.)

Hippolyta: What is that noise?

Theseus: I do not dare say. It cannot be.

Hippolyta: You know what it is?

Theseus: I have heard it before. But far away in Crete a long time ago.

Hippolyta: We have been bewitched! Theseus, we are not in Athens anymore! We are back in Crete of long ago!

Theseus: Hippolyta! This is no time to be superstitious!

Hippolyta: You told me that when you were in Crete, you fought that Minotaur monster that bellowed with a voice of a thousand devils! And now you say these sounds are like that monster's!

Theseus: Hippolyta, it sounds like. It does not have to be.

Hippolyta: Just let us get out of this nightmare, Theseus!

Theseus: I agree, but which way do we go?

Hippolyta: Oh, no! Please, Theseus! We are bewitched! That Temple Priest warned us we are offending the gods because we did not ask their permission for an auspicious day for our wedding.

Theseus: And so, I immediately dispatched Cleomenes and Dion to sacred Delphos, to God Apollo's temple to ask permission. Have I done well?

Hippolyta: Well done, my Theseus! When do you expect the return of Cleomenes and Dion?

Theseus: By the end of today.

Hippolyta: Could the Gods be offended because we did not wait for their answer? After all, we set the wedding date for tomorrow before we heard from Cleomenes and Dion.

Theseus: It could be the Gods are calling off the wedding.

Hippolyta: Temporarily, I hope.

Theseus: It is temporarily, my love. Whatever this is, a nightmare or a real displacement, we are together. We are meant to be married.

Hippolyta: Theseus, we know the Gods are not above bringing people together in love in order to ruin their lives, sooner or later.

(Minotaur roars are heard.)

Theseus: Perhaps petitioning Delphos is not enough.

Hippolyta: Forget "perhaps," my love. Let us do it as soon as we get back to Athens. A thousand sheep to God Apollo.

Theseus: Yes. In the meantime, here in Crete, let us sacrifice to the Minotaur.

Hippolyta: Theseus, that Minotaur ate people only, according to you.

Theseus: Yes, it did. But we will not be doing that here, and not just because there is no one around to sacrifice.

Hippolyta: Let's keep an open mind, my love.

Theseus: I cannot fault you on that, my love. I just now recall that I might have brought this situation here on us, Hippolyta.

Hippolyta: How so?

Theseus: Do you recall that Father who brought a complaint against his Daughter, in Athens?

Hippolyta: Vaguely.

Theseus: The law of Athens was on his side, but I set aside the law.

Hippolyta: You set aside the law of Athens? Why would you do that?

Theseus: I'm trying to remember.

Hippolyta: Do you remember which law?

Theseus: No. But neither is a serious problem because my Prime Minister, Philostrate, will recall. She never forgets.

Hippolyta: There's nothing you could do here to remedy your transgression in Athens. Hold on! Egeus! That Father's name was Egeus!

Theseus: That's it! He invoked the law of Athens that gave him the right to demand his Daughter be executed because she refused to marry the man her Father chose for her.

Hippolyta: Athens has such a law?

Theseus: From long before I was born.

Hippolyta: Has it ever been enforced?

Theseus: Not in my time.

Hippolyta: What possible reason could you advance for not implementing a law that a Father invokes against his child?

Theseus: Philostrate, my Prime Minister, said the Father had long been dealing in sorcery. Including ophiolatry.

Hippolyta: Ophiolatry? What is that?

Theseus: Snake worship.

Hippolyta: We do a lot of that in Ephesus, where I rule as Queen. We do not know it as ophiolatry.
How was that connected to his appeal to the law of Athens?

Theseus: It was not connected at all. But I hesitated to be on the side of a sorcerer, especially against his child. And, too, the Athenian law against sorcery is much older than the law against disobedient Daughters.

Hippolyta: Is there much sorcery in Athens?

Theseus: Not since I took over. I banished all Sorcerers and Witches. I was in the middle of removing that forest of Arden when you came into my life. I put that removal on hold.

Hippolyta: I've heard ugly tales about that forest. Is it as evil as they say?

Theseus: Sometimes. The case of Egeus and his Daughter was compounded by his Daughter having spent a night in the forest of Arden with her lover.

Hippolyta: Brazen of her.

Theseus: Turned all Athenians against her.

Hippolyta: The forest of Arden cannot be blamed for her shameful behaviour.

Theseus: Absolutely right, my love. But there are other things that happened that cannot be easily explained.

Hippolyta: What more needs to be explained, Theseus? Unmarried woman runs off and spends a night in a forest with an unmarried man. Nothing mysteriously evil about that.

Theseus: That's what her Father says. More important business came up. Preparations for our wedding. I fully intend to address the Father-Daughter issue, sooner or later. I will appoint a tribunal of Athenian elders to help me.

Hippolyta: A tribunal is a wise way, my love.

(The Minotaur enters, roaring fiercely. Hippolyta and Theseus run, Hippolyta in the lead. Hippolyta's lamp falls out of her hand by accident; she scrambles to pick it up; Theseus runs passed her. Hippolyta scoops up her lamp, and dashes after Theseus. Minotaur rushes after them. Other animals flee across the stage from different directions, running from the Minotaur. Hippolyta staggers in; limping; exhausted; carrying her burning oil lamp; sits on a rock. Theseus enters; limping; in pyjamas; carrying his burning oil lamp. At first they do not see each other.)

Hippolyta: Theseus?

Theseus: Hippolyta! Thank the Gods! We have to keep going, my love.

Hippolyta: I cannot, Theseus. I am too tired.

Theseus: All right, then. We stand and fight.

Hippolyta: Listen!

Theseus: What? I hear nothing.

Hippolyta: Yes. That monster has stop roaring.

Theseus: That will not stop it from eating us.

Hippolyta: It could mean it is now near enough to be stalking us.

Theseus: Stand far apart. (He moves away from Hippolyta.) When it attacks one of us, the other will be able to reach it.

Hippolyta: All right. But with no weapons we do not have much of a chance.

Theseus: Hippolyta, we have these. (He holds up his lamp.)

Hippolyta: Really, my love?

Theseus: When it attacks, we blow out the lamps. And fight back.

(Lamps blow out. Young woman enters.)

Woman: Whoops! There goes that advantage, great Theseus!

Theseus: Who are you?

Hippolyta: Where is that beast?

Woman: I'm Minny. I think I'm that beast. I mean, one second, I have this heavy weight on my shoulders, and the next I do not. And I have a sore throat.

Theseus: For a sore throat, gargle wine, then spit it out. Do not swirl it about in the mouth.

Woman: Thank you, great Theseus. Now let us go find some wine.

Hippolyta: Hello. I'm Hippolyta. Theseus here and I are getting married tomorrow. You know his name. Does he know you? (Hippolyta looks at Theseus for an answer.

Theseus: I swear I have never seen her in my life, my love! (Looks at the woman.) And that's the truth. Say it!

Woman: First things first. Suddenly, strange things have been happening in this forest.

Hippolyta: We know. One second, we are in bed in Athens, and the next we are here in Crete. We have been bewitched, and we do not know why.

Woman: We are in Crete?

Theseus: Yes. In a forest in Crete.

Woman: Great King Theseus, why do you think you are in Crete?

Theseus: Because I know all this is not real. It’s a nightmare. I know because that Minotaur is one-of-a- kind mythical beast which I, with the help of the Gods, killed twenty years ago in Crete. Why this nightmare? Do you know why you are a part of it?

Woman: No. I do not know why, but I am glad to be in it.

Hippolyta: Glad?

Theseus: Who are you?

Woman: My guess, great Theseus, is that I am your Minotaur.

(Hippolyta and Theseus stare at her in stunned silence for a few seconds. Hippolyta looks at Theseus.)

Hippolyta: Why not, Theseus? In this bewitchment nightmare, so many things have changed.

Theseus: (To the Woman.) Now, my turn to be glad. If you are the Minotaur in this nightmare, we don't have a fight in which I kill you.

Hippolyta: A good sign. The nightmare is changing into a dream.

Theseus: A dream, I hope, that shows us a way out of this jungle.

Woman: (To Theseus.) I think I might have that way.

(She takes out a small bundle from her pocket, and shows it to them in the palm of her hand.)

Hippolyta: What is it?

Theseus: (Recognizing it.) Ariadne's thread?

Woman: I'm hoping. I don't know how it ended up in my pocket.

Hippolyta: Ariadne? Oh, Theseus!

Theseus: Hippolyta, no need to go there.

Woman: No need, Hippolyta. My guess is that his treachery to the one who helped him out of that labyrinth in Crete out of her pure love for him, is the reason for this nightmare.

Hippolyta: And so, we are doomed forever.

Theseus: A fate I deserve, Hippolyta. But not you. I am sorry.

Woman: Princess Ariadne was a good person. That is why God Dionysus rescued her from death on that beach where you abandoned her, ingrate Theseus. God Dionysus married her, and, yes, she lives, forever beautifully young and happy, while the three of us here are destined to pass away into decrepit ugly old age.

Hippolyta: So? What? We are back in the nightmare?

Theseus: That thread you have is of no use.

Woman: Let us find out if Goddess Ariadne has forgiven great Theseus. Follow me.

(She holds the end of the thread, and tosses the ball to Theseus. He catches it. She exits. They follow her. The end.)