16
Sleepover Planet
An Original Script
For a Short BBC Online Musical
For 9-11 Year Old Children
At Key Stage Two
Words and Lyrics
By
Andrew Sherlock
Music
By
Tom Moss
Scene 1. Suburban Back Garden.
11-year-old twins Charlie and Eddy are finishing pitching tents and making a camp with friends Allie and Chris. Charlie is tapping a rhythm, Eddy is whistling a tune (Sleepover Song) and Chris hums a harmony. Allie suddenly speaks very loud breaking the mood…
Allie It’s really cool of your Nan and Grandad to let us sleepover
Charlie.
Charlie No problem Allie, but not so loud!
Eddy Yeah we want to stay up all night! Nan said any noise or nonsense and she’ll have us straight back in.
Chris It is starting to get a bit dark; maybe that’s not such a bad idea.
Ally Listen Chris if anything tries to get us in the night, I’ll scream at the top of my voice, okay?
Charlie
Eddy Shhhh!
Nan and Grandad appear.
Nan What’s all this noise? You children should have been zipped up in your tent ages ago.
Eddy But Nan it’s still light!
Grandad Only because it’s mid-summer night, the shortest night of the year. It’s still really late.
Nan Maybe we should bring them inside Jim?
Allie Oh please Mrs Jenkins we’ll be quiet!
Granddad Well that’d be a first for you Allie.
Nan All right. But sleep soon. We’ll be just inside and the windows open.
Grandad And remember don’t be caught outside your tent after nightfall… or else!
Chris Or else what?
Nan Don’t tease them Jim. He’s only kidding Chris… and remember you children sleep now.
Nan and Grandad exit.
Chris Maybe I should go home.
Charlie Oh come on Chris, you’ll be fine with us.
Eddy We’re staying up all night!
Sleepover Song. (Track 1 Calypso) Nan and Grandad sing from off.
Charlie It’s the shortest of nights
Eddy Shortest nights of the year
Allie We’ll stay up ‘til first light
Charlie
Eddy And both of our best friends are here
Nan/
Granddad Come on now children go to sleep
Children Come on now Nanny let us be
Nan/
Grandad We’ve had enough now of this song
Children We want to stay up all night long
Nan/ Sun’ll be up all too soon
Grandad Say goodnight to the moon
Eddy We’ll fool them we’re in bed
Eddy/Allie But we’ll stay up late instead
Nan/ If you don’t go to sleep you’ll wake up the bed bugs
Grandad Creepies and crawlies and ghosties and fat slugs
Night All of the things that go bump in the night
Creatures Will come out to haunt you and give you a fright
Children But we are brave and we’ll stick together
No matter the trouble no matter the weather
Dogs may bark, (Night Creatures shout WOOF!)
Fireworks spark (Night Creatures shout BANG!)
We don’t care we’re not scared or afraid of the dark
(Night Creatures shout BOO!)
Leaves and plants rustle and creatures of the night slowly appear making strange sounds.
Allie What was that noise over there?
Eddy Something moved over here
Chris I feel a little bit scared
Charlie Glad Nan and Grandad are near
Nan/ Come on now children go to sleep
Grandad
Children Come on now Grandad let us be
Nan/ We’ve had enough now of this song
Grandad
Children We want to stay up all night long
Nan/ If you don’t go to sleep you’ll wake up the bed bugs
Grandad Creepies and crawlies and ghosties and fat slugs
Night All of the things that go bump in the night
Creatures Will come out to haunt you and give you a fright
Children But we are brave and we’ll stick together
No matter the trouble no matter the weather
Dogs may bark, (Night Creatures shout WOOF!)
Fireworks spark (Night Creatures shout BANG!)
We don’t care we’re not scared or afraid of the dark
(Night Creatures shout BOO!)
Children Maybe it’s time to go
(Nervously) In our tents out of sight
‘Cos you never can know
All What’s hiding in the dark night!
The children quickly scamper into the tent and zip it up fast. The Night Creatures crawl out.
Slugger Now it’s our turn to crawl
Creepy Out of the shadows of night
Crawler We’re the things you all fear
All Creeping up to give you… A FRIGHT! (End).
Big scarey faces! Nan shines a torch into the darkness.
Nan For the last time go to sleep out there!
The Night Creatures recoil from the light and scuttle off.
Scene 2. In the night skies above.
Ambient percussive sounds fill the air. A silver baton drifts twisting and turning, passed by the Planets and Stars, as it falls to earth.
Star Something and someone are falling down to Earth.
Stella There’s a problem with the planets and with the universe.
A strange, silver child, the Space Conductor is falling after and trying to catch it. The Planets chant a refrain…
Venus What could this be shooting through the night?
Neptune It’s the space conductor floating out of sight
Saturn After gazing at a meteor in flight
Pluto This stella child was blinded by the light
Mercury The resulting sudden concentration loss
Jupiter Caused the universal baton to be tossed
Moon Out of hand the magic wand was dropped
Mars Now it must be found or all is lost
Space My mentor passed the silver stick to me
Conductor To beat creations’ time in tune and key
Now my teacher’s gone I have to be
The one to get it back immediately
Planets The Space Conductor must beat perfect time
To keep us planets perfectly aligned
Scene 3. Suburban Back Garden.
The Night Creatures have crept out to watch what is happening as the baton falls towards them.
Slugger Look there’s something shining in the sky.
Creepy It’s coming this way.
Crawler Quick! Let’s crawl for it!
Night Creatures slither off as fast as they can. The baton falls and hits the tent. Chris stumbles out alarmed, hands up.
Chris It’s all right, I’ll come quietly, don’t hurt us.
Chris sees there is nothing or no one around, then sees the golden baton lying beside the tent. Eddy appears as Chris picks it up.
Eddy You still up? Great, I’m not ready for bed either. What’s that?
Chris I don’t know.
Chris gently waves the baton and music floats across the air lifting Chris and Eddy on to their tiptoes. Charlie appears.
Charlie What’s going on?
Eddy Dunno. Chris’s found a magic stick or something.
Getting more confident Chris waves the baton more firmly and there is a flourish of music swaying them back and forth on their feet. Allie appears and begins to sway with them.
Allie That looks like great fun. Give me a go Chris.
Allie snatches the baton from Chris and swashes it violently through the air. There is a huge crescendo of music and the earth seems to move beneath their feet sending the children crashing to the floor.
Charlie Allie you maniac! Give it here!
Allie Sorry everyone.
Charlie snatches the baton from Allie.
Charlie I better give it to Nan and Grandad.
Eddy Don’t do that they’ll make us go to bed. Chris found it.
Chris I don’t want to get in trouble.
Allie Well I got the most fun out of it!
The Space Conductor appears the Night Creatures creep out to watch.
Space
Conductor Excuse me but the baton belongs to me.
Children Who are you?
Space
Conductor I’m the Space Conductor.
Spawny (Night Creatures aside to each other) The who?
Squelch The what?
Beetlebrow From where?
Space
Conductor A friend. I come from way up there. My job is to conduct music made in the universe for all the planets to revolve and dance to.
Charlie And you seriously expect us to believe that?
Space
Conductor You just heard some of it when you were playing.
Eddy That wasn’t music.
Allie That was noise and I should know.
Space
Conductor I dropped my baton and I’ve lost the perfect tune. Please give it back or soon the planets will spin permanently out of line.
Charlie How do we know it’s yours? We found it.
Allie Yeah, finders keepers.
Chris Maybe we should listen?
Space
Conductor Here let me prove it to you. Do this with the baton…
Space Conductor beats a quick four beat in the air. Charlie copies and a rock
and roll tune kicks in.
.
Space
Conductor Now let the planets tell you themselves.
The Planets appear moving unsteady on their feet rocking and rolling as they
sing with the Space Conductor. Night Creatures sing along with the children.
Song. Out of Control. Rock and Roll.
Space
Conductor/ We gotta problem with the universe
Planets Dropped a beat and it’s getting worse
Now we gotta try to save our worlds
If we don’t…
Kiss goodbye you boys and girls
Charlie/Allie We gotta problem with this crazy lune
Night Outta the sky droppin’ by the moon?
Creatures Now we gotta buy the lies we’ve heard
Well excuse me just a minute?
I don’t believe a single little word.
Space
Conductor You gotta believe me
We gotta do somethin soon
Charlie/Allie Well if you’re so clever
Night From the land of never
Creatures Pack up your troubles in pockets of sunshine
Take to the skies
Say your goodbyes
And get yourself back to the moon (All) SOON!
Eddy/Chris What if this problem with the universe
Night Is really true and it’s gettin worse
Creatures And we never tried to save the world
We will be…
Blamed by every boy and girl
All (Cross- Who are you?
rhythm) And what you gonna do about it? (To End)
Exit Planets.
Charlie What a far-fetched story. I’m going to tell Nan and Grandad.
Charlie charges over to get Nan and Grandad.
Charlie What have you done to them?
Charlie pulls Nan and Grandad on but they are frozen and motionless.
Eddy, Allie and Chris try tapping them but they are solid and waving in front of
their eyes but they cannot see. The Night Creatures creep up and try tickling
them, but there is no reaction.
Eddy Nan? Grandad?
Space
Conductor It has already started. Time has slipped out of joint here on Earth and frozen them.
Charlie Conducting planets? Magic batons? You’re a liar! Give us our Nan and Grandad back!
The Space Conductor quickly snatches the baton.
Allie Hey, don’t snatch that’s rude.
Allie snatches the baton back off the Space Conductor.
Eddy Maybe it’s the truth.
Chris Give it back.
The Space Conductor desperately chases after the baton with Eddy and
Chris. But Charlie and Allie throw it back and forth over their heads.
Space
Conductor Please, I need it now.
Suddenly a thunderclap and lightening stops them all in their tracks. The
Night Creatures slither off.
Space
Conductor That’s the planets slipping in space. When they get too far out of line they’ll start to collide!
Eddy I wish I’d stayed in bed now!
Chris I want my mum!
Allie It’s just a thunderstorm isn’t it? It’ll pass.
Charlie Of course it will. You’ve caused nothing but trouble here since you arrived. Trying to frighten us. Now go away!
Space
Conductor But please listen! At least give me back my baton.
The Space Conductor appeals to Charlie but is pushed to ground.
Charlie Not until you free Nan and Grandad from whatever you’ve done to them and promise to leave us alone.
Space
Conductor But I can’t unless you give it to me?
Charlie No deal. You’re no friend of ours. Come on everyone, we’ll find our own way to wake up Nan and Grandad.
Scene 4. Space Conductor In The Garden Under A Lonely Sky.
The Space conductor is left alone as Charlie leads the others back to Nan and
Grandad and takes them off. Night Creatures creep on stage. Planets
gradually appear beginning to spin out of control around each other.
Song. Lose Your Way. Ballad.
Space The Sun has turned his back
Conductor The Moon has hidden her face from me
Stars have all gone out on me
I didn’t know
I could be so
So all alone
Night Lose your way
Creatures Who can say
How d’you make a new song save the day?
Space The milky way that smiled for me
Conductor Is crying bright meteor tears for me
Planets forsaken me
I didn’t know
I could be so
So all alone
Night Lose your way
Creatures Who can say
How d’you make a new song save the day?
Space I’ve no one but myself to blame
Conductor I dropped a beat and now I’ve lost the game
I feel a universe of shame
I didn’t know
I could be so
So all alone
Planets What are we all doing here?
We’re just twisting and turning
Spinning out of control
The planets start to drift dangerously close together on collision course…
All What are we all doing here?
We’re just twisting and turning
We were perfectly aligned
Now they’re slipping out of time
What’s to become of us..?
The Planets collide ending the song with a thunderous cacophony of
sound as they lock and continue spinning together. The children run to the
Space Conductor.
Space
Conductor Quick it’s happening but if we can get them unlocked there’s still time!
Eddy/Chris Charlie stop being so stubborn and give the conductor the baton!
Eddy grabs the baton to pull it off Charlie. Allie gets between them.
Allie Stop fighting you two.
Charlie It’s only a stupid little piece of nothing anyway.
Chris Please give it back.
Space
Conductor Don’t, it’s very fragile…
The baton is pulled between them. But the Planets are slowing.
Charlie Everything was fine until you came along.
The baton snaps in their hands.
Space
Conductor This is it! The end of everything!
All sink to the ground for cowering. Immense peals of thunder and
lightening and a cacophony of sound. Then dead silence…
Slowly they all start to look up as the Planets grind to a frozen halt.
Eddy Now look what you’ve done!
Charlie I’m sorry I didn’t mean it…
Allie That’s torn it!
Chris What’ll happen now?
Space
Conductor I don’t know. It looks like all the planets have ground to a halt. Time has stopped.
Chris Does that mean the sun will never rise here again.
Eddy Well how come we’re not frozen like Nan and Grandad.
Space
Conductor When the last of the power from the baton runs out we’ll freeze in time like everyone else.
Charlie Oh this is all my fault. I’m sorry.
Space
Conductor No, I dropped the baton in the first place. It is all my fault.
Allie But there must be something we can do.
Space
Conductor The Old Conductor taught me how to carry on the old tune of time. But not how to get it started.
Eddy Well let’s just ask this Old Conductor then.
Space
Conductor The Old Conductor is gone. Time waits for no one.
Chris So you’re on your own. You must be lonely and afraid.