Poseidon in Atlantis

POSEIDON IN ATLANTIS This is the second of 4 dramas in the Atlantis cycle. In the first, “Eden In Atlantis”, dissident scientist Lucifer was banished from Celestium in the great southern land for revealing secrets of fire to the common people. He was exiled to an island in the Atlantic, Atlantiha, where a matriarchal society ruled. Taking the name of Adam, he brought science to the island, by which he predicted a great catastrophe, a collision of Earth's two moons, that only he and Eva survived. Much later the population of Celestium were forced from their land by encroaching ice, and New Celestium was established on an ice-free southern island. Now two brothers. Poseidon and Zeus, with Hermes and Ares and full crew, are sailing north from New Celestium to find and colonise new territory in the great northern lands. The maps they use are ancient They were made by their ancestors in the time before “the ice”, are therefore now inaccurate and need to be redrawn. The brothers anchor at a mid-Atlantic island to re-supply, and discover that they are on Atlantiha, inhabited by descendants of Adam and Eva, and where a matriarchal society has been re-instated. Here Poseidon and Cleito fall in love, causing Poseidon to delay departure. A quarrel between the brothers ensues over this, and Poseidon decides to remain on Atlantiha. Half the crew remain with him while half sail on with Zeus, who laughingly abandons Poseidon to “rule over the sea”. Poseidon and Cleito quarrel over the social patterns of life in Atlantiha where women can choose men as temporary partners, termed consorts, men have no rights of paternity, and same sex relationships abound. Hermes advises compromise so, despite disagreement, love prevails: Poseidon and Cleito resolve to “embrace what unifies, and discard what divides”. Sailing north Zeus confesses to Ares that he feels regret parting from Poseidon, but must sail north to find new land. He predicts future conflict between the brothers' twin empires.

POSEIDON IN ATLANTIS – LONG SYNOPSIS The background: This is the second of 4 dramas in the Atlantis cycle. In the first, “Eden In Atlantis”, dissident scientist Lucifer was banished from Celestium, capital city of the great southern land, for revealing secrets of fire to the common people. He was exiled to an island in the Atlantic, Atlantiha, where a matriarchal society ruled. Taking the name of Adam, he brought science to the island, by which he predicted a great catastrophe, a collision of Earth's two moons, that only he and Eva survived. Much later the population of Celestium were forced from their land by encroaching ice, and New Celestium was established on an ice-free southern island. The story: Now two brothers. Poseidon and Zeus, with Hermes and Ares and full crew, are sailing north from New Celestium to find and colonise new territory in the great northern lands. The maps they use are ancient. They were made by their ancestors in the time before “the ice”, are therefore now inaccurate and need to be redrawn. The brothers anchor at a mid-Atlantic island to re-supply, and discover that they are on Atlantiha, inhabited by descendants of Adam and Eva, and where a matriarchal society has been re-instated, under the Queen Cleito, who rules with the assistance of a group of female advisors. Unexpectedly, Poseidon and Queen Cleito fall in love, causing Poseidon to delay departure. A quarrel between the brothers ensues over this, and Poseidon decides to remain on Atlantiha with his loyal advisor, Hermes. Half the crew remain with him while half, lead by Ares, sail on with Zeus, who laughingly abandons Poseidon to “rule over the sea”. Cleito emphasizes her ascendancy by seeking seclusion on her island retreat further up a great river that traverses the island, leaving Poseidon to search for her, while she casts spells to seduce him and prepares potions. When Poseidon finally seeks her out they quarrel over the social patterns of life in Atlantiha where women can choose men as temporary partners, termed consorts, where men have no rights of paternity, and same sex relationships abound. Hermes, who has become attached to Lilith, one of Cleito’s advisors, advises compromise so, despite disagreement, love prevails: Poseidon and Cleito resolve to “embrace what unifies, and discard what divides”. Poseidon still feels regret at how he and Zeus parted. Sailing north Zeus confesses to Ares that he feels similar regret, but must sail on to carve out a northern empire over which to rule. He predicts that, in the future, the twin empires that the two brothers create may come into conflict.

Derek Strahan was born in Penang, Malaysia on May 28th 1935, and spent his early childhood in colonial Malaysia. He was evacuated with his mother and sister to Perth, W.A. when Singapore fell to the Japanese in February 1942. In 1946 the Strahans settled in Northern Ireland and Derek completed his schooling in Belfast. In 1952 he attended Cambridge University on a scholarship studying for an arts degree in modern languages. (French and Spanish). He also further developed his interest in theatre cinema and music, and acted in a number of university productions. He graduated in 1954 and worked in London for the next six years as relief teacher, actor, singer-songwriter and assistant film director making commercials. In 1961 Strahan returned to Australia and settled in Sydney for 2 years. He then worked in TV in NZ from 1964 to 1966 writing and directed documentaries. The year 1967 was spent in the UK, visiting family and teaching. He then returned to Sydney and has remained here. A period of teaching for the NSW Department of Education in Sydney (1968–70) was combined with writing music for numerous wild life documentaries and writing songs for live performance and on TV. He has remained in Sydney where he functions in several aligned capacities as opportunities arise: writer, composer of film and concert music, film director, film and record producer and actor. As a writer Strahan worked for 3 years (1964-66) scripting and directing documentary film features for New Zealand television including a 6-part series on Sir Edmund Hilary’s aid work in the Himalayas. He then worked for 5 years as contract scriptwriter for the TV serial “Number 96” (1970-75). He also wrote episodes for “Cop Shop”, “Glenview High”, “Chopper Squad”, “Carrots!” (a children’s’ program on Channel 7), and “Flying Start” in 1986 (ABC program on small business). He also scripted corporate videos for Broadcom. He has written libretti for 3 major vocal works: "Rose of the Bay", a song cycle commissioned by Mezzo-soprano Lauris Elms AM OBE, premiered at the Sydney Opera House (1987) and recorded by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; "Eden in Atlantis" a 25-minute Scena. premiered by soprano Liza Rintel at the Joan Sutherland Room, Opera Center, Sydney, both released on CD, and "Calypso in Exile" for soprano and wind quintet. Three feature films have been produced from his scripts “Leonora” (1985), released on video, cable in US & Europe, and shown on Channel 9 in 1996; “Fantasy” (1990), released internationally on Columbia Tri-Star video, and “Inspector Shanahan Mysteries – Cult of Diana”(1992), shown on Channel 9 in 1996. He directed “Leonora” and co-directed “Fantasy” with Geoffrey Brown for Combridge International, and also wrote music for these three features. His 1-Act play “Triple Six” was staged as a student qualifying production at Newcastle University in 1996. In between scriptwriting projects he has written a considerable body of music for film and concert performance much of which has been released on CD and is frequently broadcast. Theater plays are posted at BookBaby: “Eden In Atlantis” “Takeover” “Bullet-Proof Pyjamas” “Sodom and Tomorrow” “Preface to Meet The Fractals” “Meet The Fractals” “Pleroma” “Everything Else” “Poseidon In Atlantis”.