THE ENCHANTED CASTLE

Transcription

1 THE ENCHANTED CASTLE by Deborah Magid after the novel by E. Nesbit Finalist, Ronald M. Ruble New Play Festival /28/15 4:22 PM Approximate running time: 100 minutes 2014 All rights reserved

2 ii THE ENCHANTED CASTLE It is an enchanted castle, said Gerald in hollow tones. But there aren t any, Jimmy was quite positive. How do you know? Do you think there s nothing in the world but what you ve seen? Siblings Gerald, Kathleen, Jimmy, and their new friend Mabel learn to be careful what they wish for in this tale of magic, creativity, love and loyalty, truth and lies, and food. The sibs are stuck at Kat s English boarding school over the 1907 summer holidays, and their guardian-of-themoment, Mademoiselle, permits them a day on their own to explore the town and woods. They stumble upon a mysterious castle with a beautiful princess asleep in the garden and wake her with a resounding kiss on the cheek. The princess tells them that her magical Ring will make her invisible, and then it does! She admits she s Mabel, the castle housekeeper s niece, and the quartet sets off on a series of enchanted adventures, both aided and hindered by the Ring, Mademoiselle, and a mysterious man. The children learn that explaining adventures to skeptical adults can be difficult indeed, that wishes can go spectacularly wrong because every action, every wish has unexpected consequences, and most importantly that love is its own kind of magic, one that can solve and heal even the most difficult of situations. CHARACTERS (7 actors: 3-5F 2-4M) (in order of appearance) Mademoiselle, French mistress at a boarding school, 30s-40s (female) Gerald, the eldest sibling, adventurer and storyteller, early teens (male) Kathleen, next-in-line, eager to help (female) Jimmy, the youngest, a skeptic (female or male) Mabel Prowse / Princess, inventive and independent, of an age with Gerald or Kathleen (female) Lord Yalding / A Man, a gentleman, 30s-60s (male) Actor/tress playing multiple roles: Cocoanut Lady / Mercury / Mr. Ugly-Wugly / voices of the Ugly-Wugly puppets (female or male) SETTING The action occurs at an English Boarding School, in its Town, and in and around a nearby Castle, during the summer of PRODUCTION NOTES Imagine a world made of light and sound, a rocking chair, a sheepskin rug, imagine a statue that breathes and flies, a puppet that lives and maybe expires. THE ENCHANTED CASTLE is meant to have very minimal sets, if any at all, relying utterly on theatrical magic. Descriptions in the script are included to fuel the creative team s imaginations. The Ugly-Wugly puppets, however, must be built before the audience s very eyes. These puppets are nominally made of brooms, hockey sticks, canes, umbrellas, pillows, old coats and clothes and gloves and such, and painted paper faces. What happens to them is, again, theatrical magic.

3 iii FOR THE DIRECTOR AND ACTORS A note on dialect: The children and Lord Yalding are meant to use mid-atlantic speech, with the music of British but somewhat more Americanized vowels. Mademoiselle is meant to do a similar thing with French lyricism, rather like Leslie Caron in later years. Mercury is cautioned that, although the Latin syntax might remind one of Yoda, choosing that dialect would likely kill the play. A slash ( / ) connotes overlapped dialogue. ACT ONE... 1 At School, mid-morning... 1 Out of Doors In the Cave, in pitch dark In the Enchanted Castle s Garden The Enchanted Castle, in the Treasure Chamber The Temple of Flora Children s Dormitory, after Tea Near the Fairgrounds, The Next Day At the Fair On the High Street At Table. Brekkie, the next day Building Beauty and the Beast Beauty and the Beast (ACT TWO) Out of Doors At the Temple of Flora In the Enchanted Castle s Garden, next morning The Enchanted Garden, near the Dinosaurus In the Treasure Room The Enchanted Garden, near the Dinosaurus. Just before moonrise

4 1. ACT ONE At School, mid-morning When you are young so many things are difficile difficult to believe, and yet the dullest people will tell you that these things, they are true, non? The earth, she moves around the sun in circles, around herself in circles, she is not flat as you see her to walk upon, but no, she too is round. Difficult to believe, but true. And the likely-seeming happenstance, the fairy-tales and the magic? We are told that these are not true at all. Alors. Entrez! knocks. enters. I hope I am not disturbing you. Eh bien, what is it that you desire? I thought I ought to come and say how-do-you-do. You are a polite boy. I am so sorry for you, it must be dreadful to have us to look after in the summer holidays. I am sure you will be very good childrens. We ll try. (A beat.) Can one do for you something else? Oh, no, thank you, we don t want to give you any trouble at all. Of course not.

5 2. And I was thinking it would be even less trouble for you if my brother and sister and I were to go out into the woods all day. Little deceiver, why not say at once you want to be free of overwatching you today, without pretending it is me you wish to please? We don t want to we don t want you to To trouble you, but of course. Your parents, they often permit these days at woods? Oh, yes. Then I will not be more a dragon than the parents. Mademoiselle, you are a dear. A deer? a Doe? No, a a chérie, a regular A-one chérie. Is there anything we can do for you wind your wool, or find your spectacles? He thinks me a grandmother, but I am old only the the childrens. To myself, I am as young as the summer s day. Go then, and be not more naughty than you must. withdraws to a darkish corner near the audience. Out of Doors.,, and wend their way from SCHOOL to the HIGH STREET, past the FAIRGROUNDS, and into the WOODS. How? Theatrical Magic, of course. The ingenuous fellow won the regard of the foreign governess who had been, in her youth, the beauty of her humble village.

6 3. I don t believe she ever was beautiful, she s far too stern. That s only because you don t know how to manage her. I say, what a humbug you are. No, I m a dip what s-its-name? Something like an ambassador. Dip-so-ma-ni-ac? Anyhow, we ve got our day in the woods, and if we don t find a cave, my name s not Jack Robinson. Is it a long walk? This beastly sun. I say, perhaps when we find the cave we ll keep stores in it, like burglars. There aren t any caves. One of the chaps at school told me when his father was a boy there used to be a little cave under the bank in a lane near this very road. There aren t any But he also said there was an Enchanted Castle, so perhaps the cave isn t true either. Presently they arrive at a place where the road, as Gerald says, Goes two ways at once.

7 4. goes two ways at once. That looks like adventures. They take the right-hand road, and the next time they take a turning it is a left-hand one, So as to be quite fair. so as to be quite fair, Jimmy says, and then a right-hand and then a left, and so on, deeper and deeper into the woods until We re completely lost. Completely, how jolly! Criky. I do wish my boots didn t feel so full of feet. Jimminy! That stone I was leaning against simply went. I wish it was a cave, but of course it isn t. Jimminy! disappears. Jerry? It is a cave! Come on. Suppose there are snakes!

8 5. Not a bit of it. Word of honor? I do not see a snake. All right, then. You d better come feet first Look out! you ll have my eye out. In the Cave, in pitch dark. slides in. goes head first, like one diving into an unknown sea. The young explorers, dazzled at first by the darkness of the cave Darkness doesn t dazzle. I wish we d got a candle. The dauntless leader, whose eyes had grown used to the dark while the clumsy forms of the others were bunging up the entrance, made a discovery. Now what. He did not reveal the dread secret to his faithful followers till one and all had given him their word of honour to be calm. (ominously) Oh, we ll be calm all right. There s a light over there behind you. Daylight!