First Draft Script

First full script:  So here it is...the whole play for the first time.  It is obviously quite a long thing to read on a blog, so if anyone needs a copy to print off, email Peter WW  and I will send you the document.



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. She is very musical, and loves to sing and dance. Scientific – she has a smartphone which does everything – and she is always taking photos and calculating. She is very committed to saving the planet. 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. He loves stories, and has a vivid imagination, which sometimes makes him frightened.



The Bad-singing Squirrel. Lives in the hollow of the old old tree. Sings badly. Has lived for ever in the same tree without getting older.



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 Figglehorn 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 soldier, from the next village. He is a soldier from the next village.

 

Scene One

[Countryside in a country which could be England, could be Korea. 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, introducing themselves to audience as they go.]



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. The atmosphere is magical in some way, although they respond differently to the magic. 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. She is lurking somewhere, with her spells…



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? I am sure she is here. She will point her horrible crooked finger at me, and turn me into a frog. I hate frogs…..



Young Hee, please. 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?



[She doesn’t say. There is a low growling noise. They are unnerved]



Forget about it, Young Hee. Quick. 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? Perhaps there is a witch. [in English] Witch? Witch?



[She goes, the squirrel appears.]



Squirrel: What? A witch? I am not a witch. 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? You and your terrible singing. 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]



Squirrel: [To audience, as she goes] My singing isn’t terrible, is it?



Scene Two



[It is Charlotte’s room, a strange attic room with shelves and a fireplace, and an assortment of odds and ends. There are many newspapers. Security is high.]



[Charlotte comes in with the kite. She puts it down, sorts some things out. Checking her security measures, cameras and locks etc, muttering about children. She goes back to sleep in her chair (offstage?)]



[The children come in.]



Andy: I don’t like it. It is horrible.



Young Hee: [Indicating her phone] It is OK. I have jammed the alarm.



Andy: Yes I know you fixed the burglar alarm, but look at this place. It is weird. She must be here somewhere.



[The children explore the room. It is full of strange things.



[There is a tiger rug. Andy jumps back]



Andy: Look it’s a tiger.



Young Hee: Don’t be stupid…it is not real.



Andy: It is real. It’s just dead. That’s all. Don’t step on it!



Young Hee: It is just the skin from a dead tiger. So bad, to kill an endangered species. Poor tiger.



Andy: What are you saying? Horang? You said that before or something… What’s she got a dead tiger in here for, Young Hee? It must be for spells. She uses it to do spells in here.



Young Hee: She isn’t a witch. She is just an old lady.



Andy: She is definitely a witch. I am hungry, Young Hee. Have you got any pizza?



Young Hee: Idiot.



[They continue looking around, finding things. Young Hee discovers some musical instruments, which she takes and places on the rug. They collect a number of things they turn out to need later]



Andy: [Pretending to cast spells on Young Hee.] Eye of a dog. Squashed dead frog. The head of a tiger. Turn Young Hee into a spider!



Young Hee: Stop it. I am investigating.



Andy: I need a wand. This will do.



A good magic word. What was that again, that it said on the stone?



Give me the parchment. This is what you were saying before, Young Hee. ‘Horang’. Horang horang horang.



[There is a crash, and a flash, and the growling noise…then they hear a voice]



Tiger Rug: Horang horang horang…



Andy: Where is that coming from?



It’s the tiger…the tiger. I told you he was -



Tiger Rug: Horang horang horang…at last after so many years, someone has spoken the special words, and I am woken…



[The tiger rug roars again, and then speaks, and the children are transfixed]



So many years of silence, of lying here on Charlotte’s floor. Oh my goodness I am stiff.



Andy: [Tentatively] Tiger….



Tiger: Grrr… You have a question for me?



Andy: Who is Charlotte?



Tiger Rug: You are in her house.



Andy: Oh, the witch!



Tiger: She is an old lady now, but she was not always like that. No no no. I knew her when she was the same age as you. Charlotte was a sweet sweet girl. Oh yes. That is so many many years ago.



[He starts to get all nostalgic, and loses the track of the story]



Young Hee: Excuse me..



[Young Hee looks at Andy, and nudges him]



Andy: Er, Tiger, your Clawness, …Mr Rug… How did you come to be here?



Tiger: Ah, well, that is quite a long story. A story which has not yet got an ending. It has been waiting…waiting. And now it must be told. I ended up as a rug here, because I was killed by a hunter, and it is that ending which we have to change.



Andy: OK, well, if you are going to tell a long story, we had better be going home..



Tiger: Oh no. You are part of this story, Andy, and your friend too, Miss Young Hee.



Andy: How do you know our –



Tiger: You are part of the story. You said the magic words for a reason. You have to find out the way the story begins, and take it through to its proper ending. You have been chosen. My job is to take you to that beginning. Oh yes…



Once upon a tiger, when the old people were still young…not so far away from this very place. Before she forgot everything and it all went wrong…Oh no!



[He stops suddenly and goes back to being a rug]



What? What, tiger?



[Young Hee has heard the same noise that disturbed the tiger. It is Charlotte. She arrives now]



[Charlotte comes in. She catches them.]



Charlotte: Don’t move. I knew it. Children. How did you get in here? Never mind that.. What are you doing here?



Andy: We came to ….find our…kite..



Charlotte: You think I am an idiot? You came to steal everything. You came to kill me. I know what you are like.



Andy: You have never met us.



Charlotte: I know what all of you are like. Stay there.



Andy: What are you going to do to us? Will you turn us into frogs? Please don’t. I don’t want to be a frog. Turn Young Hee into a frog. She likes hopping. Make me a…



Charlotte: Shut up! I have not decided what I will do with you. But you cannot go anywhere. So I have time to think. Stay there.



[She leaves the room]



Young Hee: Quick! On the tiger!



Andy: What?



[She bundles him onto the rug.]



Young Hee: Horang horang horang.



[It lifts up into the air.]



 



Scene Three



[Somehow, magically they are flying through the air, riding on the tiger rug. Andy doesn’t immediately realise that this is quite scary]



Andy: How did that happen? We got away! I was just getting ready to be changed, and I open my eyes, and we have escaped….



Young Hee: Look out, Andy. We are very high in the air.



Andy: What did the tiger rug mean? When the old people were still young? It’s the same as it said on the stone.



Young Hee: Don’t look down. I think you will be scared.



[He is still wondering what the tiger meant. Young Hee is looking down and getting scared. Eventually she gets him to realise what is happening.]



Andy: What does he mean, she forgot? Maybe there was a time when everybody was – what… I am just saying when everybody was aaagh! Look, we are right up in the air!



Young Hee: Yes. That is what I was saying…..



[They hold onto each other]



[Voyage sequence to be worked on when we know how we are doing it! The tiger rug flies past a number of places…a volcano, a treasure Island, a desert, a ninja penguin. There are pockets in the tiger rug, for food – pizza.]

Andy: I’m hot. It is very warm for the winter up here.



Young Hee: Yes. Not winter [she is calculating again, and muttering]



Winter, autumn, summer, spring…



Andy: Winter, then autumn, then summer, then spring. It is cold again now.



Young Hee: Time. It is going backwards.



Andy: Time is going backwards, what do you mean?



Tiger: She is quite right. I am taking you back in time, to the beginning of the story.



Andy: Back in time?



Tiger: Here we are.. You may recognise the place.



Young Hee: The old tree.



Tiger: The old tree. This was where I first met Charlotte.



Young Hee: Is that her? It’s a young girl.



Tiger: Like I said, we have gone back to the very beginning.



Young Hee: Ah yes, of course. Temporal displacement narration.

Tiger: This is where I drop you off. I can’t tell you any more than this. Watch and learn. The whole village is depending on you.



Andy: What is going to happen to us?



Tiger: I can’t tell you that. I will drop you here. Just watch and you should find out everything you need to know. But you know, if you need me, you know the words now…. Off you get.



[The children are dropped off the rug, and they go off. ]



 



Scene Four





[By the old old tree. Charlotte is playing there, but she is a young girl now. She is putting down food for the tiger.]



Charlotte: Squirrel? Are you there? It is me, Lotty. I have come to visit the most important tree in the village. Are you there?



[The squirrel pops up]



Squirrel: Lotty. Lotty. Lotty.



Charlotte: I brought you something. To help you looking after your most important tree.



[They play together. Then Charlotte calls out ‘horang, horang, horang’]



[The tiger arrives. The squirrel starts to shake]



You shouldn’t be scared of him Squirrel. He is not much more than a cub. Tiger. Come here. Come on.



[She tempts the tiger close, with food]



This is squirrel. My friend. She is fine, you don’t need to be scared of each other. She guards this tree, which is the most important and oldest tree in the village. We have played here for years. It is the tree of dreams. If anything happened to the tree, they say the village would be destroyed. She is an important squirrel, and she is my friend too. She sings very badly though. Squirrel?



[But she has gone]



[Charlotte keeps her distance, but drops food which the tiger grabs. They play with each other. Then there is music, and it builds into a playful dance.]



[When the tiger finally goes, the two children show themselves. Charlotte jumps back.]



Young Hee: Wow, that was fantastic.



[She is taking photos on her phone]



Charlotte: Who…who are you?



Andy: Don’t be frightened. We are friends. We are from another…another…



Young Hee: Village!



Andy: Village. We are from another village. I am Andy. Andy Sherbet



Young Hee: And I am Young Hee.



Charlotte: How do you do? I am Charlotte. People call me Lotty.



Andy: Do your parents let you just come here on your own?



Charlotte: Parents?



Andy: What? I mean, parents. Mum and dad. Grown ups.



Charlotte: What are grown-ups?



[Andy and Young Hee look at each other]



Andy: Once upon a tiger, when the old people were still young. Maybe there are no grown ups. No old people. NO OLD PEOPLE.



Charlotte: What are old people? You are funny.



Andy: No grown-ups. All children. Imagine that Young Hee. What do you do all the time, Charlotte?



Charlotte: We play. We explore. We dance.



Young Hee: I love dancing.



Andy: Isn’t it dangerous? I mean no grown-ups to tell you what you shouldn’t do. To keep you safe.



Young Hee: Listen



[She starts to play some music. Charlotte likes it. She dances. Young Hee joins her. They sing and dance together. Andy joins in eventually]



Charlotte: It is good to meet you. I have to go.



Andy: Why? No parents to tell you to get home.



Charlotte: I have to get back to my house, before it gets dark. I know that all on my own. Don’t you need to get back to your village?



Andy: Oh yes, of course we do.



[Charlotte laughs, and goes off]



Wow. It is hard to believe that is the same person who grew up to be a witch.



Young Hee: Not a witch. [She is making notes, and calculating things] Horang horang horang.



Andy: I wonder what happened.



[They get back on the tiger and take off again]



 

Scene Five



Andy: Thank you tiger, that was great. It must have been amazing, a world full of children and animals only. Are you taking us home now?



Tiger: Oh no. That is just the start. The happy time before any of this started, when I was just a cub. We are going to go on a few years now. Hold on tight.



Young Hee: That must have been, I estimate, 70 years ago.



Andy: That was a strange time.



Tiger: [As they fly] You were right about grown-ups. That’s what happened. Where it all started to go wrong. I will drop you again, only this time you must really watch out, because there is danger.



Andy: Danger?



Tiger: It is complicated to explain. When the children began to grow up they started to have the problems of the grown-up world. Hold on, I said!



[They go off to land]



[Back at the tree. Charlotte has come to talk to the squirrel]



Charlotte: Squirrel! Are you there?



Squirrel: Yes?



Charlotte: Thank goodness. You will have to go.



Squirrel: What are you talking about?



Charlotte: Escape. Run away. The soldiers are coming.



Squirrel: Soldiers?



Charlotte: They are going to chop down the tree. The tree of dreams.



Squirrel: They can’t. Why?



Charlotte: I don’t really even know, Squirrel, but they are coming soon. The soldiers from the other village. Figglehorn was talking all about them. They are evil. They eat squirrels there I heard. And they hate us. They have heard that if the Tree of Dreams is cut down, the village will be destroyed, and that is what they are going to do. Everyone has run away. It is the end of our village, squirrel.



Squirrel: I don’t understand. Why?



Charlotte: There isn’t time for this. Anyway, I don’t know, really. There was an argument last week.



Squirrel: What about?



Charlotte: No idea, I think someone was saying something bad about someone else, and then it got bigger and bigger, and they started to fight. Now they say they are going to kill us all. You have to run away.



Squirrel: It sounds like a very silly thing to argue about –



Charlotte: Squirrel! You have to escape.



Squirrel: Can’t I just go to sleep for a few months?



Charlotte: Quickly. They will chop down the tree.



[The squirrel reluctantly goes. Charlotte waits nervously. After a few false alarms she hears someone coming and she hides]



[A soldier arrives with an axe.]



Soldier: I have found it. Here, this is the tree that they use for their ceremonies. This must be where they hang babies up on the branches. I am going to chop the tree down, and their village will be destroyed!



[He is preparing to chop the tree down. Charlotte jumps out. ]



Charlotte: Stop!



Soldier: Out of the way. I know what you people are like. I am going to stop you once and for all.



[He pushes Charlotte out of the way, and gets ready again to attack the tree. There is a loud growling sound and then suddenly the tiger arrives. There is a big fight, and the soldier runs away.]



[The squirrel comes back, and then Charlotte]



Charlotte: Tiger, tiger. Thank you. You saved my life.



Squirrel: More than that, he saved the Tree of Dreams.



Charlotte: He saved the whole village. I must stop everyone from leaving, and ` tell them the good news.



[She goes]















 

Scene Six

[Tiger is talking to the children, although we don’t necessarily see them!]

Tiger: They were so happy. That is when they made the stone that you found. There were stories told about me. The brave and fearless tiger. The kind tiger. I was a legend.



But even then. After I saved the village, there was a bigger problem, from inside the village. One of the children who grew up, had become a hunter. He was called Mr Figglehorn.



[Mr Figglehorn appears]



He was big and strong, he had a gun, but he was not happy. He believed that he should be rich and famous. He wasn’t happy just to hunt to get food for his family. He wanted to be rich and famous, and he thought the way to be rich and famous was to kill the tiger. Figglehorn.



Figglehorn: Mr Figglehorn to you. I am going to be the greatest hunter that ever lived. When I kill the tiger that lives in these parts, I will be the richest and most famous tiger that ever lived. Fame and fortune for Figglehorn. Probably they won’t even call me Figglehorn, I will just be ‘Figs’ and they will worship me.



[He conceals himself until the tiger comes, then he leaps out]



Aha. Tiger! You think you are strong? You think you are brave? How about this!



[He is trying to kill the tiger. The tiger manages to avoid being hit. Charlotte and Young Hee make a noise]



What was that?



[He spins around, and hits out at Charlotte. The tiger goes for him again, and he turns once more. He aims at her, and she comes out. He is very angry. He turns his attention to chasing Charlotte, and he is about to attack them when the tiger comes out again to protect them. But this time he is hit. Wounded]



Young Hee: The tiger! He has hit him!



[Young Hee has found a weapon of some kind, and they manage to corner Mr Figglehorn between them.]



Mr Figglehorn: Not the cliff, no not the cliff….aaaagh



[He falls to his death]



[Young Hee and Charlotte return to the tiger, but it is too late. He is dead]



[Charlotte is crying. Young Hee conforts her. Andy comes out from hiding]



Andy: Is he…?



[Young Hee nods]



Charlotte: Poor brave tiger. I will never forget you.



[Young Hee and Andy exchange a look.]



Andy: No, we must not forget him. We have to remember all of this. How the tiger saved the village. How the children saved the tiger.



Young Hee: [English] I have something for you, Lotty.



[She gives her the phone, showing her how to look at all of the pictures]



Andy: Look at it often. If you remember what happened here, then you can keep telling the story. That way, no more tigers will die.



Young Hee: …and the trees, the trees.



Andy: Yes, and the trees will be safe too. And perhaps you can remember how once upon a tiger, when the old people were still young…this place was happy, because of the children.



Charlotte: As if I would ever forget that! Thank you.



[She skips off]



[Andy and Young Hee look at each other, pleased. Job well done, time to go home. Then they realise that they have a problem. No Tiger]



[They go back to the dead tiger, and look closely]



Andy: What do we do now?



Young Hee: Tiger.



Andy: We are stuck here. Once upon a tiger. For ever. No family. No friends.



Young Hee: [Whispering] Horang horang horang



Andy: No TV. No Pizza.



Young Hee: Andy. Help me.



Together: Horang horang horang.



[The tiger ‘wakes up’]



Tiger: Oooh, that stings. Aaah that’s better.



Andy: We thought you were dead. Charlotte still thinks you are dead. Let’s try and catch her –



Tiger: No no no. This is just what is supposed to happen . The plan has worked, thanks to you two. Well mostly you [to Young Hee]



Andy: What?



Tiger: Well, before, when I died, Charlotte kept hold of me, and made me into the rug on her floor. Then as you know she grew old, and bitter and angry, and forgot all about the way things were. Now, she will come back here, our friend the squirrel will tell her that he saw me coming round, and running off into the wild. For a few weeks she will come here hoping to see me, but then she will realise that I have gone back out into the wild with all of the other tigers. She will grow up happy that she has played her part with the other children, in saving me, the tree and the village. You understand?



Young Hee: I understand



Andy: I think so. So now you will run off?

Tiger: Well, first of all, I thought you might want a lift.



[They climb on the tiger and fly off]

 



Scene Seven

[The tiger rug drops them back at Charlotte’s house, and then disappears]



Andy: It looks different. I guess it is like he said - we have changed the way things happened. She won’t be horrible any more, because we –



[Charlotte comes in, angrily]



Charlotte: What are you doing in my house? How dare you –



Andy: Then again, perhaps nothing has changed….



Charlotte: Wait a minute. I remember…it can’t be. But you are no older than you were…. Andy. Young Hee.



Don’t look so surprised. Of course. It’s me, Charlotte. Remember?



Young Hee: Charlotte, of course…..



[They smile at each other, remembering. Then slowly, Young Hee begins the dance they did. Charlotte, gradually joins in. They dance]



[After the dance, they are all laughing together. ]



Charlotte: I have some photos somewhere, I look at them every now and then. That was how I recognised you…oh my word…



[She finds the phone that Young Hee gave her]



Andy: Where is the …rug?



Charlotte: Oh I am sorry, yes. I keep meaning to get a rug for there. Oh it is good to see you. Let me get you something .. Oh I must tell Squirrel about this. He will be so excited.. Pizza, you like, don’t you, I remember….



[They dance]



End