Anyway, just to show that it is arriving, and also so that you can see some emerging ideas and comment on them..here is the current state of the first scene or so. ANY THOUGHTS???
Once Upon a Tiger
Characters
Charlotte, an old lady. [previously a young girl] Grumpy and angry, and everyone thinks she is a witch. She lives in a little house outside the village. She is very nervous about the outside world, and especially children. She reads the newspapers all the time and is frightened by them. She has forgotten everything about when she was young.
Young Hee, a young girl, brave and fearless. Musical. Scientific – she has a gismo or gismos for everything, and will calculate everything. She is very committed to saving the planet and sustainable living. She doesn’t speak much, but when she does she speaks korean.
Andy Sherbert. A young boy. Very cautious. A lover of nature, and of pizza. He wears pink ear-muffs.
The Bad-singing Squirrel. Lives in the hollow of the old old tree.
The Tiger Rug, previously the tiger. Was friendly with Charlotte when he was a cub, and she was a little girl, and saved all of the people of the village during the war. He was then saved in turn by Charlotte, although in the end she failed to prevent his death. Now that he is a tiger rug, he is still watching out for her, although she has forgotten all of this.
Mr Finglehorn the hunter. He is a self-made man who is very ambitious. He wants to rule everything and everywhere. He wants fame fast, and believes he will get it by killing the tiger.
The people of the village.
The soldiers.
Scene One
[There is a little house in the background. A very old tree further forward. There is a pretty kite stuck in the tree.]
[It is cold. Winter. A little dark.]
[Voices off]
Andy Sherbet: Where did it go?
Young Hee: [All her lines are in Korean] This way.
Andy: We can’t go that way. Young Hee. The witch’s house!
[Young Hee and Andy arrive in the auditorium. He is scared of going towards the stage. They are looking for something. They talk with members of the audience.]
Andy: Excuse me. Did you see a kite coming this way? The string broke. It’s a beautiful kite. Red and Yellow and Blue. Have you seen it. Sorry. Sorry about this. Just looking for our kite.
[Eventually the kite is spotted, in the tree on stage]
Oh no. Not up there.
Young Hee: Andy. Throw the stick. Knock it down.
Andy: What?
[Young Hee calculates some angles]
Young Hee: The stick. Andy. [She demonstrates her plan] If you throw it right, and hit at an angle of maybe 60 degrees, then you will knock the kite in such a way, it will fly in this direction.
[He throws his stick towards the kite, but misses by miles]
Andy: Missed!
Young Hee: Idiot! We will have to go and get it.
Andy: We can’t go in there.
Young Hee: Andy!
Andy: I am not going in there, Young Hee. The witch.
Young Hee: Coward.
[Eventually they arrive on stage. Young Hee is exploring. Andy is very scared, and she keeps having to drag him. She clearly loves the place. She dances around in it. He is less sure]
Andy: Stop doing that will you! Get the kite, and let’s go.
[Young Hee tries to reach the kite, but cannot. Then she gets interested in the tree.]
Young Hee: It is so old. Gomoknamu.
Andy: I don’t care that it is old, Young Hee. Just get my kite. Have you forgotten, this is the witch’s house. She will get us.
Young Hee: Look, Andy. Look at this.
Andy: What is it?
Young Hee: It’s an old stone. With writing.
Andy: An old stone, with writing? What does it say?
[Young Hee gets paper and wax from her bag, and starts to make a copy ‘brass-rubbing’ - style, of the stone. Andy is frustrated by her getting ‘distracted’]
Young Hee? What are you doing? The kite, remember? What is it? Well, what does it say?
[She hands over the paper]
[reading] ‘Once upon a tiger, when the old people were still young…’
What is that supposed to mean? And what’s this? I can’t read that. What does it say?
Young Hee: ‘Horang, horang, horang’
Andy: What does that mean?
[There is a low growling noise. They are unnerved]
Forget about it, Young Hee. Come on. The kite.
[They try again to reach the kite, but just as Young Hee is getting close, the squirrel makes a noise and she jumps back and hides. Andy is already hiding]
Young Hee: Aaah! Andy? Where are you? Andy?
[She goes, the squirrel appears.]
Squirrel: What? What? Very strange……I could have sworn I heard children…hmmm. What is that noise? Over there? No, over there? Must be imagining it. Hmm.
What’s this? What a beautiful kite. I wonder if it works.
[She flies the kite down towards the audience]
Oh my goodness what am I doing? Is that the time? 7.00am already. It is time for my morning song. Here we go…..
[The squirrel sets up and plays some beautiful music, then starts to sing along, very badly.]
Charlotte: [off] Children? Can I hear children? Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!
[The squirrel sings on. Charlotte arrives]
Where are they? Oi. It’s you. Shutupshutupshutup!
[The squirrel stops singing]
I know you are out there somewhere, children. Which of you is it? I have the pictures from the papers. Every one. [She has lots of newspaper cuttings] I know you all want to mug me, or tie me up and steal everything, so don’t think I am not prepared. You know how much I hate children.
It is just you, is it, squirrel? Well, keep it quiet. I am trying to get a lie-in in there. What have you got there? That’s very pretty.
[She reaches up and takes the kite.]
Have you been stealing, squirrel? Tut tut. I think I had better take that. If there were any children, you would tell me, wouldn’t you?
[The squirrel nods. Charlotte goes back into the house. The squirrel watches her and then goes back into the hole in the tree]
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