THE UGLY DUCKLING English theatre

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Reynold Malone
6 years ago
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1 THE English theatre Tel

2 Prologue (It is almost sunset. Mummy Duck appears, followed by Daddy Duck. There is a nest with two eggs on stage). Quack! Quack! Quack! Ohhh!! Look, Daddy Duck! Look what a beautiful sunset! Quack! Quack! Quack! Not as beautiful as you, Mummy Duck! Quack! Quack! Quack! (He chases her and tickles her). Stop it! Stop it! Our babies, they are about to be born! Aren t you happy? Of course I am happy! Look at them! (They get closer to the eggs) They will be so smart! Quack! They will be so cute! Quack! I am sure this one will be a boy! Quack! And I am sure this one will be a girl! Quack! And we will be so happy!! Quack! Quack! Quack! (They hug) It is getting late. Let s go to sleep. Good night children! (They kiss their own eggs and they realize there is something between the two eggs) Wait a minute! What is that?

3 That s another egg! But how is this possible? I am sure we only had two eggs. This egg is not ours. It is bigger and strange, I will get rid of it. No! You can t do that! It is late and cold, an animal might eat it. All right. We ll leave it here, and tomorrow morning we will see what we should do with it. Okay, my love. Quack! Good night, my little girl! Quack! (He kisses the egg) Good night, my little boy! Quack! (She kisses the other egg and they leave. Shortly after that, Mummy Duck comes back and kisses the third egg) Good night to you too, little stranger! Quack! Mummy Duck!! Quack! Coming! Quack! Quack! Quack! (Light slowly fades out while sounds of the night and crickets fade in).+- Scene 1 (Next morning. The rooster crows. Light fades in. Song 1 starts. The eggs are beginning to hatch and the three baby birds dance. You are so weird! Can t you say Quack? That s not true, I can Honk!

4 No you can t!! Quack! Yes I can Honk! Quack! Hooooonk!! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! You can t! You can t! You can t! You are so weird; your feathers are not yellow like ours. They are not yellow; they are grey and white You are not like us! Yes I am! No, you re not! No, you re not! Stop it! Yes I am! No! Your face is very strange! And your colour is disgusting! You are not as strong as I am! You are not as elegant as I am! And what a long neck! SISTER DUCK! And those skinny legs!

5 You smell funny! And you are very ugly! Stop it! I am not ugly!! You are so mean!! Aaaaaahh! (She cries) She called me mean!! Oh, don t cry! Hey you, ugly! Why are you bothering my sister? I didn t want to bother her; I just wanted her to stop calling me ugly! I called you ugly because you are! Yes!! You are!! You are an ugly duckling!! You are an ugly duckling! You are an ugly duckling! You are an ugly duckling! (crying) Aaaah! I am not ugly! Daddy! Mummy!! You re a tattletale!! And a cry-baby!! Mummy and Daddy will never love you! That s not true! Because you don t walk like us! You are not as beautiful as we are!

6 And you can t say Quack! (focusing and making an effort) mmmm Hooooooonk! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! You are an ugly duckling! You are an ugly duckling! You are an ugly duckling! Aaaaaaargh!!! (She kicks the nest and it falls) She broke the nest! She is so mean!! Daddyyyy!!!! Mummyyyyy!!! Our sister broke the nest!! She has been bad!! We didn t do anything! Nothing at all!! (they leave with the nest) You are so mean!! It s not fair!! (she cries) I am an ugly duckling!! (she cries, focuses and try to say quack) Hooooonk!! (She cries desperately) I am an ugly duckling!! (she sits by the front stage). (Mummy Duck and Daddy Duck enter) What happened? Scene 2

7 Why are you crying, sweetheart? I am an ugly duckling!!! Oh, come on, don t say such (he sees her) You are not (she sees her) Oh my!! My brothers were right!! They said you wouldn t love me because I am an ugly duckling!! (Mummy Duck and Daddy Duck look at each other, a little ashamed of their own first reaction. They sit on both sides of the duckling to comfort her) Oh come on! Do not listen to your brothers! They are just a little naughty! They are not a little naughty! They are very naughty and I am going to scold them! They shouldn t have said such things! Of course not! I will scold them a lot! Then you love me? Of course we love you! You are our baby bird! But you are very beautiful and I am very ugly! Oooh! That s not true!

8 You are just a little bit different I am different!! (she cries) (Mummy Duck gives a scolding look at Daddy Duck for saying that) I assure you, you are just like us! Just like us, just like us. (looking at them untrusting) That s not truuue!! You re just saying that so I won t cry!! (crying) Hey, look! Let me see Oh, yes! When you are sad you cry, just like we do! You have a big heart, just like us! You are nice, like us! (tickling her, the duckling laughs) You laugh! Just like us!! (They all laugh) These are the most important things. And in all these ways, you are just like us. But my feathers are a different colour. And my neck is so long, and I am I am The colour of your feathers doesn t matter. We love you the way you are. I love you too!! (They all hug).

9 (kissing her) Quack! (kissing her) Quack! Hooooonk! Whaaat? Hooooonk! Quack! Honk! Quack! Honk! (she cries) Aaaaah! I can t!! I will never be like you!! Oh, come on! Don t cry! It doesn t matter! It is not so important to say quack! But why can t I say it? That s because you are you are very special! You are so special and you will do many special things! But what s the point of being special if I can t say (focusing) Hoooonk! You are so special that someday you will impress the whole world!

10 You are so special that you will do anything you decide. Really? What will I do? (SONG 2 All the things you can do. It ends and the scene goes on) Ooooh! That s wonderful! And when will I do all these things? Oh! Very soon! We will begin with the swimming lessons. I will go and get your brothers ready. Baby birds!! Get ready to swim!! (Mummy Duck leaves) Swimming lessons? I will like it so much!! Me too! Do you think I will be good at swimming? Of course you will!! Come on!! Wait, daddy! What if What if what? What if it goes wrong, like saying honk? You mean Quack. Yes, honk. Quack. Honk.

11 Quack. Honk. (desperately) Quaaaaaack. (concentrating) Hooooooooonk. (he sighs) Don t worry, there is nothing you can do worse than that. (They laugh). Don t be late! I am coming! Scene 3 (With a mysterious music, a Cat enters, walking slowly, licking her paws, and looking bored. Suddenly some birds appear The cat tries to catch them three times finally, the birds fly). Meeeeoooow! It is so boring to be a pet cat! They feed me all the time, they pamper me, they hug me. But all I want is to hunt. I would love to hunt a mouse, or a bird Ooooh!! Baby birds!!! Shush!! (She hides and there come Ugly Duckling and Brother Duckling, wearing goggles and floats. They are arguing) Give me the float! Ugly Duckling! It is mine! Quack! That s not true, it is mine! And I am not an ugly duckling! Honk! Yes you are! You are an ugly duckling, Quack! You are an ugly duckling, Quack! (off) Baby birds! Behave! Quack! (The ducklings leave and the Cat comes back)

12 Meeeoooow! So, an ugly duckling It would be so nice to catch one of those ducklings. But their parents are too close. Shush! (The ducklings come back) Give it to me, Ugly Duckling! Quack! No! And don t call me Ugly Duckling! You are an ugly duckling and nobody will love you! That s not true! Mummy and Daddy do love me! That s not true; Mummy and Daddy will never love you! Do you know why? Because you are an ugly duckling, you are an ugly duckling! You are an ugly duckling!! (Brother Duckling leaves and Ugly Duckling sits on the ground) That is not truuue!! (crying) Meeeoooow! Why are you crying, duckling? Because he called me Ugly Duckling!! (crying) Oh! That is so impolite! Isn t it? Of course! Meeooow! Not everybody knows how to be sweet and nice like a little cat. (As she says this, she rubs against the Ugly Duckling, purring) A cat you really are very sweet and beautiful! I know. Meeeooow. Come on, get on my back, we will go for a walk and soon you will stop crying.

13 But I have swimming lessons! That is much more fun, and I am veeeery loving, not like that mean duckling. Come on, come with me, meeoow! Hey, you are tickling me, honk. Meeeeooow! Climb on my back! I promise we won t go far! Ha, ha, ha! You are so sweet! Let s go, but we must be back soon, all right? Of course, meeow! (with a music of transition, they cross the stage from side to side some times, and then they arrive at a forest) I am a little tired! I think I fell asleep on your back! We are far away from the lake. No, don t worry, we are very close. Let s rest, if you want. Oh yes! Tell me, who was that mean baby bird who called you Ugly Duckling? He is my brother. He always calls me names. Your brother?? Meow! But he doesn t look like you at all! His feathers are yellow Yes, and my feathers are grey and white, and my neck is longer But that s fine, my parents told me that s not important. Well, that depends on your point of view if that is not important, why did they call you ugly duckling? My brothers are naughty, but my parents say that

14 Meeeoow! I think your parents are lying to you. It is obvious you are not like them. I bet you can t even say Quack! Hmmm Honk! Probably you can t even swim. I was about to begin my swimming lesson right now! Aaaw, poor foolish duckling! If you can t say quack, you surely can t swim water is terrible, you know? Water is terrible? Yeees! Meow! And very dangerous! You could drown if you are not a very good swimmer. Can you swim? Bffffff!! Oh no! I have never been in the water! I could drown!! And you know what? I think you would drown too!! I don t think so! My parents will teach me. Your parents don t love you. What? Oh, don t be angry with this sweet pussycat I only want the best for you. And I think your parents lied to you because you are not like them. Why would they lie to me? Maybe they are ashamed of you being so different.

15 But that can t be true. Poor duckling. It is clear that they don t love you. No They want you to drown in the lake. Why would they want you to swim otherwise, knowing that you can t? I can swim, well, I think so, I haven t tried yet, but How could you possibly swim if you can t even say quack? Yes I can, hoooonk! Ffffffff! Ugly Duckling I don t think you are a sweet cat, I think you are very mean; I am going back to my lake, and Fffffff! Clumsy Ugly Duckling The faster you run, the more fun it will be to catch you. No! Leave me alone! (The Cat walks around her, trying to hunt her). Scene 4 (A Dog appears. There is a fight-dance, and finally the Cat runs away). Woof! Go away! Woof!! Look at my teeth! Woof! Bad cat! Go away! Woof! Grrr! Woof! Stop it! (The Dog stops and stands still).

16 Er..? (surprised) What are you doing? You told me to stop it. But don t just stand there, come here! (The Dog hurries to join her) Ha, ha, ha, ha! You are very funny! Yes! Funny, funny! (He rushes over to her, kissing her very happily) What are you doing? Stop it! (Sopping suddenly) Yes, stop it, stop it. Will you do whatever I say? Of course! I am very well-mannered Ask me something! Ask me! Ask me! (very nervous) Ha, ha, ha, ha! What are you doing? The paw! Ask me to give you my paw! Stop it!! Please please! (whining) Give me your paw! (The Dog gives her his paw) The other paw!

17 (She gives him some orders and the Dog does them) Throw a stick! Throw a stick! Please! Please! Please! A stick? All right! (She throws a stick and the dog brings it back several times). Oof! I am very tired. I need to sit down. Sit! (he sits down) What are you doing? I m sitting down! You told me to sit down. Ha, ha, ha, ha! You are so funny! Thank you for saving me from that mean cat! Mean cat! Mean cat! Woof! Woof! Where are you going? Come back! I m coming! (He sniffs at the duckling) Ha, ha, ha, ha! What are you doing? I m sniffing you! I want to know what you are. I am a duckling. A duckling? That s funny, I ve never smelled a duckling like you. That s because I am an ugly duckling. Ugly? I don t think you are ugly

18 Well, maybe I am just different. Different? Different from who? My family. Family (he becomes sad) Do you have a family? Yes, I have a daddy and a mummy, and two very naughty brothers, but I can t find them. That mean cat took me away from the lake and now I don t know how to get back. Don t you have a family? I had one. I had a master, you know? A human. He was so kind to me; he always played with me and threw a stick for me. But I lost him too! (He becomes sad) Don t be sad How could a human be your family if you are a dog? Family is whoever loves you and gives you the warmth of a home. It doesn t matter how different you are from your family. Love is what really matters. You are right! I am very different from my parents, and my brothers! But they are my family! Awww! I would love to find my mummy! Why don t you follow their trail? Their trail? Of course! All you need to do is to remember your mummy s scent and smell the ground. When you find the trail, you follow it. Can you remember your master s scent? Of course! I am a dog! My master smelled like wood just chopped, meat pie, clean sheets, slippers (he becomes sad)

19 Why don t you follow his trail? Because my master was a very old man and he went to a place where it is impossible to follow his trail. Come on don t be sad. You know what? We will go find my family and we will find a new family for you. Yes!! And if that mean cat comes back, I will teach him what happens to those who mess with my friends! Friends? Of course! Friends! What s the matter? It s only that you are my first friend! Really! Hurray!!! (SONG 3 Friendship. Duckling and Dog sing what being friends means. Friendship is playing at throwing a stick, friendship is crying and laughing, hugging and dreaming, friendship is helping each other finally find a family. They sing as they go along. At the end of the song, they arrive at a farm. Winter is upon them. It is cold and the duckling is shivering). Scene 5 Brrrr It is so cold, I am very tired, and so hungry. I am hungry too! Wait! It smells like wood, recently chopped wood (he smells) a warm fireplace, hmmm, slippers! And a blanket hmmm! Meat pie!! Come on! Come on! It smells good! It smells good! Easy! Easy! Don t you understand? It smells like a home!!

20 A home? What is a home? A home means family! Family? I don t understand Yes!! (very excited) Family and slippers hmmm wood Meat piiie!! Woof! Woof! GRANDMA What is all that fuss? (The Dog sits on the ground as he asks for food. The Duckling imitates him without knowing exactly why). Why are you sitting? No one told you to sit Shush! Do what I do And what are you doing? Trying to look like the best dog in the world. Shush! (Grandma comes out. She looks at them, surprised and affectionate). GRANDMA What have we here? A beautiful dog (she pets him) and a baby bird What are you doing out here in the cold? Woof! Honk! GRANDMA So you are looking for a warm place to spend the winter, aren t you? Woof! (whining) Honk!

21 GRANDMA I see all right! You can stay with Grandma, clever dog! And so can you, baby bird. (Dog explodes with joy and goes running to pick up a stick, which he takes to Grandma). GRANDMA Hmmm A stick? We will have plenty of time to play, but first I will give you a nice piece of meat pie come on welcome to your new home! (Dog runs to the house very excited, followed by grandma. Duckling stays outside, melancholic) Home What a strange word! Home means family, but my family is not here. As long as I stay here, I won t be able to find my mummy. But it is so cold outside! GRANDMA Come on, baby bird come in or you ll freeze! Honk! I will find you, mummy! As soon as winter is gone! (Dog and Mummy Duck) Scene 6 Woof! It is springtime already!! It is springtime!! We can go out and play! We can go to the river! We can sniff around! Hmmm, what is that smell? Hmmm! Meat pie! I love springtime!! Quack! Hum! Wait a minute! What was that? Quack! Quack? (he sniffs) What is that smell? (chasing game between Dog and Mummy Duck) Don t hurt me! Please! Don t hurt me! Hurt you? Me? Don t you hurt me!!

22 I can t hurt you you are very big! Big? Do you mean I am fat? Maybe I have gained a few pounds Grandma s meat pie is so good!! What do you smell like? You look funny (chasing game smelling) Oh, stop it! Woof! (He stops) Oh! You are so funny! Yes! I am a good dog! Scratch me! Come on! Do you want to be my friend? Do you want to be my friend? Do you want to play? Oh, I would love to play with you, but I am too sad. Sad? Why? I am looking for my duckling; she left home some time ago. And I am afraid that something bad has happened to her I know a duckling. She is very different from you, but we are good friends anyway. Very different? How different? Quack! Well, first of all she can t say quack! Oh my! That could be my lost duckling!! I don t know! Let s check it! Duckling! Duckling! Can you come out? I am coming! Honk!

23 Oh my! (Duckling appears turned into a beautiful swan) Mummy? LING It can t be! Is it you? Mummy!! Oh! I am so moved! You have grown up so much! And you are so beautiful! I never wanted to leave, a bad cat tricked me and then winter came, I wanted to go back home, but I didn t know how I missed you so much! Don t worry! What matters is that you are fine and now we can go back home. Yes!! Yes!! Back home! We have meat pie! Come on! Woof! Come on! Wait a minute, mummy. Come! I m coming! You are a good dog! Yes! A good dog, let s go home, duckling! Meat pie, come on! I have to go. All right, slipper, stick meat pie You have to go? Where? To find my family. Winter is gone.

24 Aren t you happy here? With me? With Grandma with meat pies? Mmm Yes, of course I am happy, but But? I must go back to the lake and learn to swim. I must go back to my home. To swim? Why? What for? This is our home! Do you remember what you told me about following a trail? Yes. I finally remember the scent of my home. My home smells like the water of the lake, the flowers of the shore, my mummy, my daddy, even my naughty brother and sister. I see. I must go. Do you understand? But we ll always be friends. Of course. (Slower reprise of song FRIENDSHIP -only phrases- the Dog sniffs at the Duckling) What are you doing? I m memorising your scent so I can find you again. I ll remember your scent too, the scent of friendship.

25 Thank you for taking care of my child. You are a good dog. Goodbye! Goodbye, friend. Goodbye, friend. (Duckling and Mummy Duck leave slowly, while Dog waves sadly with the music, until the light fades out). Scene 7 (They arrive at the lake. Mummy Duck and Ugly Duckling. Later, Swan.) Here we are! The lake! It is time to learn to swim. But first I will go find your daddy and your brother and sister. Wait. What s the matter? It s just that I am afraid. Why, sweetheart? What if they don t love me? Look at me, I have changed so much, I don t look like you at all. What if my brother and sister don t love me? I am just an ugly duckling! You are not an ugly duckling. You are beautiful! But why am I so different? Well maybe you are not exactly a duckling. What do you mean? You see, your daddy and I found a lost egg in our nest. We knew you would be Different, but we also knew we would love you like one of our own.

26 You mean I am not one of you. Of course you are! We are a family and we ll always be together. Do you understand? I do. But if I am not a duckling. Then what am I? (Swan enters humming) I am not sure, but I think you will find out very soon. Look! Ooh! (surprised when she sees the swan) Mummy! Who is that? Go talk to him! No! I (Duckling and Swan meet in the centre of the stage, light changes, a romantic music starts. They see each other and they both get very nervous. Mummy Duck discretely steps aside). Hooooonk! Oops! SWAN Honk! Excuse me? SWAN Honk! I mean, who are you? I am I am just an ugly duckling! SWAN Don t make fun of me! You are the most beautiful thing I ve ever seen! Who are you? SWAN I am just a common swan.

27 A swan? SWAN Honk! Honk! SWAN Do you want to swim with me? I I can t I can t swim SWAN Of course you can! You are a swan! A swan (Song Swan-Duckling) I can swim. SWAN And fly. Anything you decide. I am so happy! SWAN Let s fly together. Let s find a new place, a home to make a family. I would love to, but I can t. SWAN Why not? I have finally found my family, so I guess this is my home. Oh, come on (moved). You must leave! Mummy!

28 You have grown up, look at yourself! You are a beautiful swan! And you have found love. If your heart tells you to leave, you must do so. But what about you, daddy, my brother and sister? We are a family. And we will be your family come what may. This will always be your home. (To the other swan) And from now on, yours too. SWAN What do you say? Are you coming with me? All right. But wait a minute. What are you doing? I just want to remember the smell of my home. In case I want to come back some day. I love you, my baby bird. I love you too, mummy! I will be back soon! Goodbye! Goodbye. SWAN Oh, come on! Don t say goodbye! Say see you later! (Final song- See you later) THE END

THE UGLY DUCKLING

THE UGLY DUCKLING THE UGLY DUCKLING 2 BEFORE GOING TO THE THEATRE Welcome to The Ugly Duckling! Are you ready to go to the theatre? We will have a lot of fun! Let s start! 1. MY FAMILY! WHO ARE THEY? WHAT