The Portway Players: Sharing the Stars
ACT 1
Jacky on stage...sat comfortably, drawing:
I have been remembering back to when I was a little girl......
Enter Sarah
When I was 8 years old, my mum and dad gave me a doll for my birthday......
See Marilyn and Alex give Sarah the doll. When Sarah holds doll, Jacky remembers holding the doll....
I called my doll: Sarah......
Every night when I went to bed, I took Sarah with me. I whispered in her ear, shared my dreams with her, told her all my plans. I loved Sarah, she was my special friend.
See Sarah with doll
The community nurses, the doctors, social services, said that I should go to a special school, they sent me away to boarding school, they sent me away from home to a school in Minehead.
See Mum and Dad give Sarah little case and satchel: Come on love, they say it’s for the best... all exit....as they go.
When I got to the school, the headmistress said: No dolls in the classroom.
Hear, off-stage: 1+1 =2; 2+2= 4, etc. ABCDEFG
Enter Kevin.
Enter Sarah, Kevin takes doll: No dolls in the classroom.
But every night I still took Sarah to bed with me. I told her all my troubles. I whispered in her ear. She comforted me. I loved Sarah, she was my special friend.
Kevin gives the doll back to Sarah and exits. See Sarah with doll
I was very unhappy at school. I ran away ......
Enter Roy, Chris, Brian and Kevin. Each one calls: Jacky! Roy: Come back here; Brian: Or else; Chris: It’s no good hiding
Jacky: I ran away 3 times but I always got caught....
Roy; Brian; Chris; Kevin: Sarah! Before Kev says: Jacky, he moves from in front of Sarah and stands side-ways on as if he has just found her.
The third time I was caught the headmistress punished me.
She took Sarah away from me...
She took a pair of scissors
The headmistress took a pair of scissors and cut Sarah’s hair. She cut Sarah’s beautiful, long blonde hair.
She cut Sarah into little pieces....
And she threw her in the bin
Sarah gasps and covers her mouth; Jacky does the same.....
Sarah was a doll but I loved her like she was my best friend. The headmistress destroyed our friendship. She broke us up. But now I remember and I want to share my story. I still have dreams and ambitions but I don’t want to keep them in the dark, not like I did when I was a girl at school. I want to tell my stories....we want to tell our stories.
Stage fades to black
Roy reads: Turn on the light
We’ve been left in the dark
Because we haven’t been talked to
We want explanations
To know what’s going on.
When it’s dark it is silent
There is nothing in sight
Not even a star
To give you something to go by.
We are cut-off from our people
We are lost, on our own
We feel very small
We feel anger, we feel frightened,
Afraid, unhappy, rattled.
We want to know
Our minds are rattling
By being let down
Do not split us up
Do not un power us
Why not talk together
Connect us, come together
Don’t hide things away
Turn the light on.
lights come on....star sheet...... quiet music
Roy and Mary reading, George, Alex, Sarah, Joan showing the poem:
How about the stars at night?
I was coming home in the dark
When I was little and holding my dad’s hand
I saw two lovers by a tree
Looking at the stars.
And my dad said ‘Always keep that in mind’.
The lovers looked young
Out in the dark so late on their own
But my dad said ‘They’re doing something special
The sky is like heaven, the lovers have heaven on earth.’
I know now that the lovers were something deep and dark
Sharing those stars above
It didn’t only lift them
It lifted me.
I wanted to know more about love
I wanted to join those lovers.
George stays where he is....everyone enters:sing: Sharing the stars. ( George, Sarah steps forward and they look at the stars together.)
George and Sarah: Love. Embrace.
Roy/Jacky: It’s not the time for that.
All: Not the time.
Brian: It’s never the time for that.
Sarah and George separate.
Chris: They stop our romantic stories
Jenny: Why can’t we share the stars?
Kevin: When I was young,
Brian: they put a label on me:
Tina: Backward
Mary: Holding me back,
Brian: pinning me down with a name.
Chris: When mum died I couldn’t stay in my own house, I had to move...then the staff are over you..
Chris: Now I go by the rules
Jenny: Time to go to bed
Marilyn: Time to get up.
All: You’re too slow.
Roy: Life is like a balancing act.
When you are disabled it is hard to keep going, there are lots of barriers and things that can stop you doing what you want to do.
Mary: They think we don’t know anything
Roy: They think we are stupid
Mary: They treat us with no respect, they control our lives
Roy: They treat you wrong they call you names
Mary: They are the nurses,
Roy: the doctors,
Mary: the managers,
Roy: teachers,
Mary: children,
Roy: bus drivers,
Mary: social workers,
Roy: shop keepers,
Mary: ordinary people in the street,
Roy: even your own families can get you wrong.
Mary: Life can be like a tightrope..you hold out your arms to give you the balance to move forward, to get you through, to stop you falling, to try to get your rights.
Jacky: The words I always hear
Can’t do this
Can’t do that
Don’t do this
Don’t do that
Push.
Roy: They call it support
Push.
Roy: But support should not stop me
Push.
Roy: Support should let me be me.
Everyone: Pin you down
Pin me down
Steve goes down....Everyone comes in, one-by one, around Steve, Marilyn first: Listen to us, does their wish, builds-up until everyone is on stage and Steve feels powerful and stands:
Steve: ‘I want to be myself’
Chris: ‘But people think they know what’s best for us.’
Jacky: They won’t let you be yourself.’
You’ve got the skills and the high knowledge
From university, some of you pin us down with your knowledge,
You hurt us
You yourselves have the choice on how to use your knowledge.
By being understanding and listening to us.
Not to push us down or push us out. Use your knowledge to support us
To put your voice with ours
To make our voices equally strong
So we may not need you the next time
Work with us
Not as a do gooder
but believing in us and what we do
It is your choice
Steve: Let’s share the stars.
All: Share the stars.
Refrain ‘Sharing the Stars’
Stage set: restaurant; bench..Alex and Mary sat on, watching the action; some sort of promenade area, flower seller/
(off-stage Roy and Jacky read.....Liz and Steve act out)
R. : Romance is a love story
J. : Two in love
R. : Putting arms around each other
J. : And kiss
(Steve and Liz link arms and walk off)
R. : Man (George)
J. : And woman (Sarah)
(Alex and Mary move closer to each other)
Alex: I’d like them to be me and Brenda
Mary: Because we love each other
(stand, to audience) Alex: But we don’t have romance like in a book
Mary: No mountains, no sunsets
Mary and Alex: Us, our romance is outside the Centre (both)
Alex: And that’s it
Mary: And that’s it (During this time Alex and Mary walk back to their seat, arms around each other, and sit, again they watch the action, Brian and Marilyn enter, apart as if Marilyn is waiting for him)
Brian: I’d like to give her a flower
(looks at his money in pocket)
Brian: But I’ve no money
(joins Marilyn, link arms, exit. Jacky and Roy enter restaurant, sit at table. Steve C as waiter gives them menus, they read)
Roy: Go out for a meal (indicate that prices are too high)
But I can’t afford it
Jacky orders 2 cokes
Roy: Nice wine
Steve brings drinks
Jacky laughs: Champagne
Jacky and Roy, reach out, hold hands: Together talk
Then individuals come in, one by one, exit after they say the following lines:
Brian: But my mum would have to think about it
Chris: I’d have to wait for her to say yes
Steve: But I’ve never asked her
Jenny: I just wait and see
Tina: I wait for the lottery
Marilyn: I wait for freedom
Alan or Joan: I wait for love
All: We wait for love
Mary and Alex get up, hand in hand, to audience:
We are in love. We have found our love.
Everyone, as single voices: love, love, love, until the lights fade.
Refrain: Sharing the Stars
End of refrainnoise of radio and Jacky making tea People exit.
Scene with George,Sarah, Roy, Jacky. 4 chairs on stage, 2 facing audience, close together. The other 2 side-ways on to the audience and far apart from each other. At the end of the ‘parents’ scene..
...... freeze....all partners come in...freeze.....chairs/props removed, Jacky/Roy take places, Sarah/George take places.
music starts.
Go through dance stopping the music three times to remove partners.
Two deck chairs are placed on stage.
Sound of trumpet begins quietly
Chris very slowly walks on stage, licking an icecream.
He sits on a deck chair
ROY:
Love, the chance for two people to meet,
to love,
to stay together,
to share together, to be together, to remember together
(with Mary)
to understand something of love together.
MARY (wait until Jane and Jenny are waving to Chris before you start):
Imagine two people who have grown old together, who love each other, who have been together through thick and thin,
(wait until Jenny sits)
who come to sit by the sea together,
(wait for the rug then...)
to remember,
to share their thoughts,
(with Roy)
their understanding of love.
Sea noise
CHRIS: The first time I ever went to the seaside...
ROY: There were trams, cafes and funfairs
And elderly couples
Holding hands together
Walking along the beach
There was one couple I watched
MARILYN/ BRIAN
JOAN: Stars.
MARY: How about the stars at night?
I was coming home in the dark
When I was little
And holding my Dad’s hand. (sea noise stops)
(wait Mary until Chris looks away)
I saw two lovers by a tree
Looking at the stars
JENNY signals CHRIS to look at her ‘couple’ and GEORGE/SARAH step forward.
ROY: There was one couple I watched
The man tall, balding with grey trousers, blue jumper,
The woman in a beautiful flowery dress.
MARILYN/ BRIAN now step forward and CHRIS signals to JENNY to look at them.
MARY:
And my Dad said:
KEVIN:
Always keep that in mind
The lovers are doing something special
Looking at the stars ( wait: everyone looks at stars)
The sky is like heaven, the lovers have heaven on Earth.
(sea noise)
Couples now go off
ROY: It was the place but I can’t remember the name.
Isn’t it what you remember?
What you see
MARY: The lovers looked young out in the dark
ROY: So late?
On their own?
MARY: I know now that the lovers were something deep and dark (Jenny pat Chris’ hand)
I thought about love
Sharing those stars above
Their understanding of each other.
It didn’t only lift them
It lifted me
ROY:They were together (Chris pat Jenny’s hand)
They were strong
They had the power
MARY: I wanted to know more
About love
I wanted to join those lovers.
Sea noises end. CHRIS and JOAN look out
ROY: It was the first time I saw love (Chris lift hat)
I’d not seen love
My father hit my mum about
I’d not seen love
I didn’t see much with my foster parents
I think they hid it away.
Sea noise. JENNY and CHRIS look at each other.
MARY: That elderly couple?
ROY: They’d been in love for years
I’m certain of this
MARY: Because?
ROY: I felt I knew them in my last life
I’ve met them in this life
I think I will see them in my next life
Because they are lovers
(wait...put your hand out....with Mary...... )
They are love.
JENNY and CHRIS: Love
Chris take Jenny’s hat off and kiss her
Exit: Joan and Chris exit/props cleared...then enter Mary, Roy, Jacky, Chris..front of stage
Mary:
How it could be if we shared the world together.
We want people to meet with us, talk to us, listen to us, look for understanding and respect, begin to start to share.
We show our feelings, we show our love. We let it out because we want people to see us for who we are.
Roy:
We are all human beings
We all want equal rights
Respect one another, respect who we are
Support one another
Work together to get freedom for everyone
No-one pushed down, no-one pushed out
No-one being ignored
Support each other for confidence in each other.
Jacky:
Stars are a symbol for our hopes and dreams, the places we all reach for: love and togetherness
Roy:
Sharing the stars: what does that mean? For us it means the strength everyone would have if we all tried to meet each other half way.
Exit. Props on for the Puppet factory
Enter Tina: This is the puppet factory.
Tina works factory siren, workers enter: Marilyn, Steve, Steve, George. They clock-in. Sit down.
Tina: Good morning. Collect your work....
You collect your work.....
Each person collects their work one by one.
Tina: Needles...... (hands out needles Big pin cushion)
Tina: Time to start work.
Tina inspects with magnifying glass
Steve threads needle.
Tina: Time to put your work away
People put it away....one-by one
Tina: Time to go home.
People clock-out. Exit. Tina inspects work, whistles, turns off the light. Exits. Sound of lock
Readers: We’ve been left in the dark
When Tina turns out the light:
All: We’ve been left in the dark
Chris has his tea/sandwich/reads his paper, then....
Demanding/insistent/ cross:
Jane: We’ve been left in the dark (Chris freeze on his sandwich)
Mary: the dark (Chris turns to look behind him)
Jacky: the dark (stand up, back to chair)
Mary: Because we have not been talked to
(Chris: not been talked to?)
Jacky: not been talked to
Roy: We want explanations
Jacky: explanations
Mary: explanations
( Chris: Explanations)
Roy: To kno ooooooo oww
All: What’s going on?
Chris: What’s going on?...... take torch, stand still...shine it round)
Jane: When it is dark it is silent
Mary: There is nothing in sight
Roy: Not even a star to give you something to go by
(Chris realises it is the puppets that are talking, sits down)
Jacky: We are cut-off from our people
Mary: We are lost
Jacky: On our own
Jane: We feel very small
Roy: We feel anger
Mary: We feel frightened,
Jacky: Affffffffffffffraid
Jane: unhaaaaaaappy
Roy: raaaaaaattled
All: We want to know
Mary: Our minds are rattling
Roy: (like a hammer) By being let down
All: Do not split us up (torch on all faces)
All: Do not un power us
All: Do not un power us
All: Do not un power us
Chris: Don’t worry, I’ll do something.
Chris goes to the phone, calls up people etc.....After each phone call people/person arrives. Asks them to wait. When everyone’s arrived, Chris calls in workers, they take their puppets, stand opposite ‘visitors’.
Chris:Why not talk together?
Mary: Connect us
Jane: Come together
Mary: Do not hide things away
Mary and Jane: Turn the light on
Workers: Turn the light on
Chris: Come on ...talk together...
People start to reach out for each other.. meet...talk together...exit together. Chris watches them go
Chris: That’s how it should be.
Roy comes back on stage, and the music underscores the Dance poem, Roy reads:
A dance through all the years
Dance through laughter and crying
Happy times, sad times, hard times, bad
Our dance is all the journeys we make
Life is all sorts of tunes
We create the music of life
In our heads
We dream the music
The music is mine