Edel Wignell with Year 3, Rowville Primary School, at the launch of Long Live Us!, 8 March 2011.
PLAY SCRIPTS
Many of Edel Wignell's play scripts have been published in magazines, some have been compiled into collections and others are single scripts published in book form.
- See the Script Collections
- See the Single Scripts
NEW! * Try a script, Long Live Us! - a play for acting, based on a fractured folk tale published in picture-story form.
SCRIPT COLLECTIONS
ISBN numbers indicate books in print.
The White Elephant: Drama based on Asian Folk Tales (2009, Teaching Solutions) for ages 8-12 years.
ISBN 978 1 870 51688 4
A white elephant, a magic gem, trickery, time twists, fire and wind wrapped in paper, a beautiful bird, wishes granted... This collection contains seven plays based on folk tales from India, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, China, Thailand and Papua/New Guinea.
It includes:
- two plays for acting,
- three plays for shared reading and
- two radio plays
Choruses and shared reading ensure that everyone in the class can have a turn in every play.
Extensive Teachers' Notes accompany the plays.
See Teachers' Notes NEW! for Classroom Activities and an article, 'Adding Choruses to Play Scripts'.
Tricking the Tiger: Plays Based on Asian Folk Tales - eight photocopiable plays for ages 10-14 years. ISBN 9 781876 580322
A ghostly trickster, winning a princess, the exploits of a thief, brothers sharing an inheritance, a seductive portrait, and more. The folk tales are from Papua New Guinea, Korea, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Japan and Indonesia.
Also Tricking the Tiger: Teacher Resource Book ISBN 1 876580 38 0
(Click cover for larger image)
The Hobyahs and Other Plays from Around the World (1995, Bushfire Press, translated into Chinese by Bookman Books, Taiwan) - five photocopiable plays for ages 8-10 years. ISBN 1 875191 48 8
Hobyahs, trolls, a mighty sparrow, a goat with seven eyes, a ghost wagon, and more. The collection includes a puppet play, a tall tale and a trickster tale for shared reading, a ghost play with songs, and a folk tale from the viewpoint of the 'baddies'. Choruses and shared reading provide turns for everyone.
Also see the Chinese book cover
(Click cover for larger image)
SINGLE SCRIPTS IN BOOK FORMAT
ISBN numbers indicate books in print.
Bendemolena, illustrated by Mini Goss, 'Voiceworks' series (2001, Pearson Education) in small and 'big book' formats, for ages 6-8 years. Small book: ISBN 0 7406 1810 5
Big Book: ISBN 0 7339 1760 7
Bendemolina was selected by Scholastic Canada for a French language edition of Voiceworks. The title is Bettina, and the series is En scene.
In this play script, based on an American tall tale, Bendemolena, the kitten, lives in a noisy house, so she takes a shiny pot and puts it on her head. Hooray - it's quiet!. But Mother asks her to run messages, and she muddles them up!
(Click cover for larger image)
The Ant and the Grasshopper, illustrated by Meng-Feng Wu, 'Story Steps' series (2000, Shortland-Mimosa, Australia; Kingscourt, UK) - for ages 6-8 years. ISBN 0 7901 2129 8
Grasshopper's friend, Ant, has fallen into a stream. Will Grasshopper be able to rescue him? How can a coconut help? This picture-story play script is based on a folk tale of Indonesia.
(Click cover for larger image)
The Tie Olympics, illustrated by Robert Roennfeldt, 'Southern Cross' series (1987, Macmillan Australia) for ages 8-10 years.
The Foster family will soon be moving house. They decide to tidy up, give away and throw out everything they don't need. Mr Foster has a large collection of ties. The family have a Tie Olympics, with votes to decide which ones to keep and which to discard.
(Click cover for larger image)
NEW!
LONG LIVE US!
Edel Wignell ©
A play for performance based on a fractured folk tale
for ages 7-10 years
The following play is based on the picture-story, Long Live Us! Written first as a short story, it won First Prize in a fractured fairy tale competition. Edel added another layer of meaning for the illustrated version.http://ipoz.biz/IP_Kidz/Kidz.htm
See also: Picture Stories and Teachers' Notes. You can also watch the Book Trailer.
If this play is printed in multiple copies for classroom use, ensure that the copyright notice, Edel Wignell ©, appears on each copy and that a remuneration notice is sent to Copyright Agency Ltd (Level 15, 233 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, NSW 2000). Download the PDF version
Cast:
- Storyteller 1
- Storyteller 2
- Greedy Troll - hungry and crafty
- The Goodies:
- the Bear Family: Father, Mother and Baby Bear
- the Third Little Pig and his Porky Friends (any number - at least three)
- the Princess and the Frog Prince
- The Baddies:
- Goldilocks - mischievous
- Wily Wolf - sly
- Wicked Witch – scheming
- Giant – powerful
Settings
A bridge over a stream and a cave beside it; a field with a Candle-maker's hall; the kitchen in the Candle-maker's hall.
Props (suggestions)
The bridge may be two tables end-to-end with chairs leading up and down. Leave space for a gap in the bridge - a chair may be placed in the gap. The stream could be marked on the floor, and the cave - a curtained corner with the curtain draped back to show the inside.
The hall where the Goodies' meeting is held could be a screened area with the kitchen beside it, having a table and a cupboard for the oven. Bring food and drink for the Goodies' afternoon tea, and have a party when the play is over.
Sound effects (SFX): by trial and error, work out your own sound effects for footsteps and sounds of crashing from the bridge into the stream.
SCENE ONE
Stream, bridge and cave |
|
| STORYTELLER 1 | Once upon a time, a Greedy Troll lived under a bridge which spanned a river. He waited and waited and waited. |
| GREEDY TROLL | I'm hungry! How long do I have to wait for someone to come across this bridge? |
| STORYTELLER 2 | Soon he heard hurrying footsteps: trip-trap, Trip Trap, TRIP-TRAP! |
| SFX | (BEAR FAMILY'S footsteps on the bridge.) |
| GREEDY TROLL | Who's that trip-trapping over my bridge? I'm coming to gobble you up!' |
| FATHER BEAR | We're the Three Bears. We're Goodies. (stopping on the bridge to explain) |
| BABY BEAR | We're chasing Goldilocks. She ate up all my porridge. (starting to cry) |
| MOTHER BEAR | Goldilocks entered our house when we were out. She broke Baby Bear's chair, ate his breakfast and slept in his bed. |
| FATHER BEAR | These are Goldilocks' crimes: trespass, vandalism and theft. |
| MOTHER BEAR | We're tired of the Baddies getting away with crime all the time. We're going to catch and punish her. |
| FATHER BEAR | Gobble up Goldilocks, but don't eat us! |
| GREEDY TROLL | All right. (licking his lips) Off you go, and be sure to bring her back. |
| STORYTELLER 1 | The Greedy Troll was hungry, but he comforted himself by thinking and planning. |
| GREEDY TROLL | Ah-ha! I'm a bit wary - the Bears will be hairy. But Goldilocks will be sweet - a nibble, a treat. When they return, I'll gobble them all. |
| STORYTELLER 2 | Soon after, the Greedy Troll heard hurrying footsteps: trit-trot, trit-trot, trit-trot, trit-trot... |
| SFX | (PIGS' footsteps on the bridge) |
| GREEDY TROLL | Who's that trit-trotting over my bridge? I'm coming to gobble you up! |
| THIRD LITTLE PIG | It's the Third Little Pig and his Porky Friends. We're Goodies. (stopping on the bridge to explain) |
| THIRD LITTLE PIG | I built a strong, brick house and saved myself from the Wily Wolf, but my two brothers, the First Little Pig and the Second Little Pig, lost their lives. |
| PORKY FRIEND | The Wily Wolf huffed and puffed, and blew down the First Little Pig's house of straw, and ate him up. |
| PORKY FRIEND | He huffed and puffed and blew down the Second Little Pig's house of sticks, and ate him up. |
| THIRD LITTLE PIG | These are his crimes: threats, destruction of property and murder. |
| PORKY FRIEND | We're tired of the Baddies getting away with crime all the time. |
| GREEDY TROLL | Hey, wait a minute, Third Little Pig. I heard that the Wily Wolf came down your chimney and fell into a cauldron of boiling water. That's a very drastic punishment! |
| THIRD LITTLE PIG | No, that was a rumour. He escaped! |
| PORKY FRIEND | We're going to catch and punish him. |
| THIRD LITTLE PIG | Gobble up the Wily Wolf, but don't eat us. |
| GREEDY TROLL | All right. (licking his lips) Off you go, and be sure to bring him back. |
| STORYTELLER 1 | The Greedy Troll was hungry, but he comforted himself by thinking and planning. |
| GREEDY TROLL | Ah-ha! The Wolf is wily, smiling slyly - hard to gulp and chomp to pulp. But the Piggies will be as tender as figgies. When they return, I'll gobble them all. |
| STORYTELLER 2 | Soon after, the Greedy Troll heard hurrying footsteps: tip-tap, Tip-Tap. |
| SFX | (footsteps of the PRINCESS and the FROG PRINCE on the bridge) |
| GREEDY TROLL | Who's that tip-tapping over my bridge? I'm coming to gobble you up! PRINCE It's the Princess and the Frog Prince. We're Goodies. (stopping on the bridge to explain) |
| PRINCESS | The Wicked Witch changed the Prince into a frog. |
| FROG PRINCE | The Princess kissed me, and restored me to human form, but the Wicked Witch wasn't punished. |
| PRINCESS | These are her crimes: shape-changing and forcing a royal person to live as an animal. |
| FROG PRINCE | We're tired of the Baddies getting away with crime all the time. We're going to catch the Wicked Witch and punish her. |
| PRINCESS | Gobble up the Wicked Witch, but don't eat us. |
| GREEDY TROLL | All right. (licking his lips) Off you go, and be sure to bring her back. |
| STORYTELLER 1 | The Greedy Troll was hungry, but he comforted himself by thinking and planning. |
| GREEDY TROLL | Ah-ha! The witch is a crone - all string and bone. But the Princess and her guy will be yummy as pie. On their way back, I'll gobble them all. |
| STORYTELLER 2 | The Greedy Troll waited all day, getting hungrier and hungrier. |
| GREEDY TROLL | Hurry up, next meal! It will be a splendid one, but how long will I have to wait? (marching back and forth holding his stomach with his hands, then peering towards the woods) Goldilocks will be scrummy, the Pigs will be yummy and the Royals will be plummy. The Bears will be rough, the Wolf will be tough, and the Witch? Pretty soon I'll have enough! |
| STORYTELLER 1 | He showed his dreadful manners at the thought. |
| SFX | (GREEDY TROLL burping) |
| STORYTELLER 2 | The Greedy Troll was so hungry, his stomach became numb and he started to think about Goodies and Baddies. |
| GREEDY TROLL | I'm wicked. I've always been wicked - it's my personality. I am what I am, and I'll never change. (shaking his head) The Goodies say witches are wicked (but often witches are wise). Wolves are wily - it's their nature, I say. They do what they have to do. And Goldilocks - if you ask my personal opinion - she's a bit mischievous and a bit naughty - not truly wicked. |
| STORYTELLER 1 | The Greedy Troll had never thought so hard before about Goodies and Baddies. |
| GREEDY TROLL | I'm the wicked one. (pointing to himself) I'm a thief. I steal treasure - gold, silver and jewels. Sometimes I even kidnap a human baby and put a troll baby in its place! What fun when they discover a changeling! (laughing loudly) But I always return their baby, of course. When that fairy tale lot come back, I'll eat all but the Baddies. As we're all wicked, we could have fun together, out-wicked-ing each other, with Guess-Who winning. |
| STORYTELLER 2 | The Greedy Troll climbed up on the bridge and pulled some planks off, making a large gap. |
| GREEDY TROLL | They'll run up on to the bridge, and they won't see the gap at first. Suddenly they'll see it, but it'll be too late. Crash! |
| STORYTELLER 1 | Soon after, the Goodies hurried out of the woods with their captives: the Three Bears with Goldilocks, the Third Little Pig and his Porky Friends with the Wily Wolf, and the Frog Prince and the Princess with the Wicked Witch. |
| FROG PRINCE | Keep together. Dash up and over the bridge before the Greedy Troll can stop us. |
| STORYTELLER 2 | They were going so fast that they didn't see the gap. |
| SFX | (splash! scream! splash! scream! splash!....) |
| STORYTELLER 1 | They all fell into the swiftly flowing stream. |
| GOODIES | Help, help, help! |
| FROG PRINCE | Go with the flow! Swim downstream! |
| STORYTELLER 2 | Having recently been an amphibian, the Frog Prince knew what to do. |
| STORYTELLER 1 | The Goodies set off, swimming downstream, and were soon out of sight around the bend. GREEDY TROLL (pulling the three captives out of the water) Hey ho, my Baddies! Its time for your release! (undoing the ropes) |
| BADDIES | (stretching stiff limbs) Owwww! Ooooh! Ahhhh! (huddling together, whispering, glancing at the GREEDY TROLL who is rolling up the ropes) |
| WICKED WITCH | Out of the frying pan! |
| WILY WOLF | Into the fire! |
| GOLDILOCKS | I've thought of something! |
| GREEDY TROLL | Come into my cave. (hustling them in) I was going to eat the Goodies, but they've escaped, so now I'll eat you. |
| BADDIES | We'll see about that! |
| GREEDY TROLL | (to the WILY WOLF) Wolf so wily, smiling slyly, you'll be hard to gulp and chomp to pulp, but I'll gobble you up. |
| WILY WOLF | (coolly) Nice! Thanks for the welcome. |
| GREEDY TROLL | (to the WICKED WITCH) Witchy crone, you're string and bone, but I'll gobble you up. |
| WICKED WITCH | (coolly) Nice! Thanks for the welcome. |
| GREEDY TROLL | (to GOLDILOCKS) Goldilocks, so sweet - a nibble, a treat - I'll gobble you up. |
| GOLDILOCKS | (coolly) Nice! Thanks for the welcome, but I have a better idea. The Annual General Meeting of the Goodies is on right now (if they escaped from the river in time). They've prepared a scrumptious supper. |
| WICKED WITCH | They were all talking about it. First a meeting and then afternoon tea. |
| WILY WOLF | Sounded like a good nosh-up. |
| GOLDILOCKS | Let's go and hop into it. (skipping out of the cave) Follow me! |
SCENE TWO
The field with the Candle-makers' Hall |
|
| STORYTELLER 2 | The Greedy Troll, the Wicked Witch and the Wily Wolf followed Goldilocks up the bank and across a field to the Candle-makers' Hall. |
| STORYTELLER 1 | As they neared it, they heard voices thundering to the Goodies at the meeting. |
| FATHER BEAR | The crimes are trespass, vandalism and theft. |
| THIRD LITTLE PIG | The crimes are threats, destruction of property and murder. |
| PRINCESS | The crimes are shape-changing and forcing a royal person to live as an animal. |
| WILY WOLF | They're angry! We got away! |
| WICKED WITCH | They're furious! We escaped! |
| GOLDILOCKS | They're right, you know. We do get away with crime all the time. And we're going to do it again, right now. Follow me. (leading the way around the back into the supper room) |
SCENE THREE
The kitchen in the Candlemakers' Hall |
|
| STORYTELLER 2 | The Wily Wolf, the Wicked Witch and the Greedy Troll followed Goldilocks up the steps into the kitchen at the back. |
| STORYTELLER 1 | There, set out on tables, was a splendid array of food and drink: sandwiches, rolls, sweets, cakes, and drinks in jugs. |
| GOLDILOCKS | Let's trash their supper! (opening the oven door) Bring out the trays!' |
| WILY WOLF | Here's a tray of pies! (lifting it out) |
| GREEDY TROLL | Sausage rolls! (lifting it out) |
| WICKED WITCH | Pizza - steaming hot! (lifting it out) |
| STORYTELLER 2 | A delicious savoury aroma rose with the steam. |
| GOLDILOCKS | Let the party begin! |
| STORYTELLER 1 | But then, but then... What was that they heard? A voice in the distance, chanting. |
| GIANT | Fee, fi, fo, fum! Fee, fi, fo, fum! |
| GOLDILOCKS | (whispering) Oh no! |
| WICKED WITCH | (whispering) The Giant! |
| WILY WOLF | (whispering) Jack's Giant! |
| GREEDY TROLL | (whispering) The worst Baddie of all. He'll eat all this food. |
| GIANT | Fee, fi, fo, fum! Fee, fi, fo, fum! |
| STORYTELLER 2 | Closer, closer... |
| STORYTELLER 1 | Goldilocks grabbed gobstoppers, the Wicked witch snatched a pizza, the Wily Wolf pilfered a pie and the Greedy Troll thieved a bowl of ice-cream. |
| STORYTELLER 2 | They jumped out of the window and escaped just as... |
| GIANT | FEE, FI, FO, FUM! |
SCENE FOUR
The cave |
|
| STORYTELLER 1 | The four Baddies arrived at the cave, puffing. |
| GOLDILOCKS | The Goodies should learn to live and let live. |
| GREEDY TROLL | If they succeed in getting rid of the Baddies in stories - which they won't... |
| BADDIES | (punching the air) They won't! |
| GREEDY TROLL | What kind of stories will children have in the future? |
| WILY WOLF | No more Goodies versus Baddies. |
| WICKED WITCH | Just dreary, deadly-dull, everyday stories about Shopping with Mum and Dad at the Supermarket. |
| BADDIES | (together) What a bore! What a snore! (punching the air) To the best stories! |
| Goodies versus Baddies! | Long live us! |