First Draft in english

Looking for Yoghurt

by
Kim Mijeong
Toyoko Nishida
and
Peter Wynne-Willson


First Draft October 2008
PWW English version



Cast of Characters
Norang – a Korean girl, recently moved from the countryside to the city
Aka – a Japanese boy, in search of monsters.
Blue – an English boy who has his own hiding-place within the site.

The action of the play takes place inside, and just outside, a large building site in a modern city in the present day. There is a musician beside the stage.
[Before the performance, a young Korean girl, Norang, looks for her little stray cat, Yoghurt, in the foyer and auditorium.]

Scene 1 Outside the Building Site
[It is autumn, in a big city. A vast building site looms on the stage. Norang is in the auditorium, looking for her best friend, a stray cat called Yoghurt. She is repeating her special signal. She comes onto the stage, still searching.]
[Throughout the play, the characters speak in their own language – Norang in Korean, Aka in Japanese, and Blue in English]
Norang: Yoghurt!
[ She is close to tears. The search is important for her. Yoghurt is her best friend. She sees a rough trail of pawmarks. Excitedly she places her curled hands in the paw-prints and follows the trail. It leads to the outside of a building site. She looks up.]
[Inside the site there is a movement in the shadows, and a sound. The site is huge. The prints lead straight up and over the fence. She wonders whether to go into this place of obvious danger, or to give up on her search. She squeezes under the fence, and disappears into the shadows]
[Time passes]
[Aka, a Japanese boy, leaps onto the stage. He is on a mission, humming his own theme tune as he goes. Although his approach is a full-scale fantasy with himself as hero, the cause he is undertaking is a real one. The ‘monsters’ within this site have destroyed his favourite area for playing. He does a commando roll. He views the building site, checking it out, lining up the monsters in his sights.]
Aka: Monsters.
[He moves back, to warm up for his ‘assault’. He fights the air. He makes sure he is really an action hero. He comes slowly forward, but ‘steps’ on a secret switch, and the ceiling starts to close in on him. He fights the weight off, and rolls clear. He views the site again. Checking the wire perimeter, he imagines that it is electrified, and writhes on the floor. There is movement in the shadows of the site once again. He might be seen, so he backs off. He prepares for his final approach, and leaps dramatically over the fence, disappearing into the shadows]
[Lights go down]
Scene 2 Inside the Building Site
[Lights come up on another part of the site]
[Norang arrives, frightened in the shadows of the site, but continuing to look for Yoghurt. Aka arrives fractionally later, and flings himself on the floor, in a surveillance position. Norang goes out of sight. Aka becomes aware of her and hides so as to stalk her. Norang is unaware of him. ]
[Norang looks for Yoghurt, softly softly. Aka starts to copy her actions without sound. When Norang turns, he backs off and hides himself, frightened. Then they exchange sounds, from a distance. Call and response.]
[Silence]
Norang: Yoghurt.
Aka: Banana. Hamburger.
[Norang is a little less frightened. She is curious. She explores behind a screen. They play a kind of hide and seek. Norang surprises Aka from behind. He screams, and threatens her with a ‘weapon’. She screams more.]
Aka: Shh!
[Norang screams again. She sits, frightened. Aka backs off, then approaches from behind the screen. He puts his hands over and does a little hand play. A dog eats a cat. Norang smiles. She makes a bird with her hands. Aka makes a bow and arrow, and shoots the bird. The bird dies]
[They have made some contact. He pushes his hand through the screen. Slowly she touches it. He pulls her through. They look at each other.]
Norang: Norang.
Aka: Norang. Aka.
Norang: Aka.
[She moves away from him]
[Lights down]

Scene 3 Finding Blue
[Lights up]
[There is pile of crates centre stage, covered in plastic. It is Blue’s ‘Command Centre’]
[Aka follows Norang again]
Aka: No-rang?
Norang: [nods] Norang.
Aka: I am here to fight the monsters. You will be OK.
Norang: I don’t understand.
Aka: Yoghurt?
Norang: Yoghurt?
Aka: Aka.
[Norang gives up trying to understand, and starts looking for Yoghurt again. Aka follows and joins in, without understanding. He gets distracted, and begins fencing with a makeshift sword]
[A light comes on in Blue’s hiding place. They notice. Aka investigates. He believes he has found Yoghurt.]
Norang: Yoghurt?
[Aka nods. Norang is excited, and looks, but the ‘jaws’ of Blue’s pile of crates open, and she jumps back in fear.]
Aka: Not Yoghurt?
Norang: No.
Aka: Monster.
Norang: Monster.
[Aka seems a little afraid, but he summons up enough courage, and attacks the crates. His word gets ‘eaten’ by them. He attacks again, pulling off the plastic covering, wrestling with it on the floor. A young English boy, Blue, is revealed, hiding. He has two lights on his forehead. He desperately tries to rebuild his place. Aka has jumped back, frightened again. Blue is talking to himself.]
[Aka signals Norang to help catch the monster. They take the plastic sheet, and try to catch him. There is a struggle. Blue protects his shelter, and covers himself with a newspaper. Aka pulls it away, and Blue covers just his eyes with what is left. Aka signals Norang to ‘cover’ him. He pokes Blue with a weapon.]
Aka: Who are you? Do you live here? What are you doing here? Norang!
[Aka signals Norang to hold Blue, so that he can attack him. Norang initially gets ready to do this, but backs off. She recognises her own experience in the eyes of Blue. She passes him a new sheet of newspaper, he covers himself again.]
What are you doing here? This is the place where monsters live. They destroyed my playground. Are you a monster?
Blue: You aren’t supposed to be here. It isn’t allowed. No children are allowed.
Aka: You don’t look like a monster.
Blue: There’s a sign, outside. Danger. Didn’t you see the sign? You aren’t supposed to be here.
Aka: You are a monster in disguise. But you have met your match.
Blue: There is a sign. I always see the sign. Why didn’t you see the sign?
Norang: No.
[Aka shouts out. Blue is frightened. He puts the paper back on his eyes and curls up. Norang pulls Aka out of the way. She stays at a distance, but sings to Blue tenderly. After a while, Aka joins in the singing loudly and disrupts the moment. Then he backs off, sulkily]
[Norang moves a little closer. Blue switches on his headlight. Then off again. She peers through at him.]
Norang: Do you live here? Your house? [She mimes]
Blue: I don’t live here. I come here when I want. This is my command centre. I can control everything from here.
Norang: Norang. Aka.
Blue: I know. Norang, Aka. I wrote them down.
[He gets post-it notes with their names on from inside his shelter. Norang does not understand the writing. Aka joins them. He tries to see into Blue’s hiding place. Blue is upset again. He closes up his shelter again.]
Norang: Aka is a monster-hunter [Blue makes no response from inside his shelter]
Aka: Monsters. They are in here. They have destroyed everything.
Norang: I am looking for Yoghurt. [Still nothing] Have you seen Yoghurt?
Aka: Leave him. It will be dark soon. [He moves away]
Norang: I think maybe Yoghurt is dead. Maybe the monsters ate her.
[Blue flashes his light at Norang. She looks back at him, and moves over to his shelter. He pushes a roll of paper through to her. She opens it. It is a plan of the site.]
[Norang takes the plan over to Aka]
Norang: Map.
Aka: Map. [He takes control of it.]
This way. [They go off]
[Lights down]
4 Exploring the site
[Aka leads an exploration of the site, led by the plan. They go through a set of obstacles. Blue comes out after a while, and watches from a distance. He follows some way behind. Aka and Norang swim through an ocean. They walk across the side of a cliff. They get stuck, and signal to Blue, who is watching them from his place. He comes out, but stays his distance, throwing them something to help them. They continue across imaginary stepping-stones. Blue follows, walking through the water. They cross an imaginary river, on a rope. Blue follows, but again does not manage to summon the whole picture into his imagination. They examine the plan again. Aka has it upside down. Blue comes close enough to see. Turns it round. They follow a path to find Aka’s tree.]
5 The remains of the tree. The grandmother’s story.
[Aka runs to find where the tree that he once played on is, but it is not there.]
Aka: The tree. It was here. I climbed on it. It must be here.
[He is puzzled, and upset. Blue realises what he means and shows him what happened.]
Blue: The tree. It was here. Big tall deciduous tree, I think …a Zelkova Tree. I saw what happened. [They do not understand him. He demonstrates as he explains] They drove a digger at it first, but that didn’t work. It was strong. So they got chainsaws. They cut off the branches first..
[Aka attacks Blue]
Blue: I didn’t do it. That’s just what I saw. Why are you angry at me?
Aka: The tree was my tree. It was my tree that I always climbed up and played with!
[Aka, hugs the stump of the tree, upset. Blue can’t understand Aka’s action. Blue just looks away. Norang looks at both Aka and the place where the tree used to be, then starts her grandmother’s story. ]
Norang: (sings) Once upon a time, there was a funny story.
[Aka and Blue listen closely to her singing, although Blue still keeps his distance.]
Once upon a time, way back in the past, there was a village.
[They don’t understand, so she makes them act out being houses. Aka joins at once, Blue resists being touched, but forms a little house]
There were little houses. And a big tree in the middle of the village. A really big tree!
Aka: A tree?
Blue: Tree? Maybe Zelkova. [At this stage he is responding to the puzzle, rather than enjoying the story]
Norang: Yes, a tree. And there was a blind old woman in the village.
Aka: Old woman
Blue: Old woman.
Norang: Then one day, the old woman said,
‘Surisuri Masuri, I can see, I can see, I can hear, I can hear,
The day when the sky opens up in the middle of pitch black night,
There will be a baby!
Our Baby!’
Blue: A baby?
Aka: Baby!
Norang: Yes, Oori ai.
Aka: Oori ai.
Blue: Oori ai.
Norang: Then one night, (makes sounds of bird singing at night) in a dark night, when
everybody is still asleep,
[Norang, Blue, Aka lie down and close their eyes.]
It became really bright all of a sudden in the middle of the night.
[She moves Blue over, and makes him switch on his headlight]
The sun was rising.
Everyone in the village woke up and looked up the sky.
[Norang makes Aka stand up.]
In that moment!
[Norang hides and starts to make a sound of baby crying. Norang stands up and says ‘Our Baby’, (‘Oori ai’) holding a baby in her arms. Blue and Aka repeat the word. Three of them nod to each other then say it in one voice. ]
All: Oori ai!
Norang: The baby grew very fast. He walked by the age of 2. Two years old.
[Aka walks, Norang applauds]
Five years old. He rode a horse.
[Norang gives Blue a crate, which he rides as a horse, with some help]
At seven years. He hit a flying bird with an arrow.
[Aka and Blue show it with movements.]
Norang: The word flew everywhere.
[They whisper to each other, spreading the rumour.]
Amazing boy. He can do anything etc etc….
[Norang and Aka make Blue a king.]
Norang: King!
Aka: Your majesty!
Blue: King!
Norang: Word finally reached the king.
King (Blue): [Suddenly leaping rather scarily into role] No! Just like there’s only one sun, there is only one king in this world. Me! Just me! Bring me this Oori Ai. Get the child right now!
[Norang and Aka ride horses.]
Old Man (Norang): I can hear, they are coming, we should hide Our Baby!
[Norang hides Aka. King (Blue) threatens people of village (Norang) to bring ‘Our Baby’. King finally pulls out a sword when he hears nothing. Just at the moment when the king was about to cut off someone’s head, Aka appears as ‘oori Ai’ and starts to fight him. Norang stops him, because he has got the story wrong. He is supposed to say, ‘take me instead’. He goes back and they replay the scene properly. ]
[Our Baby’ appears. King carries him off. ‘Our Baby’ stops and tells the people of village, that he hid something under the big tree. What he hid is for the people and it will save the world. He explains it with mime. He asks people to keep the secret and then the king drags him away]
[Aka and Blue run to Norang]
Aka: Then?
Blue: And?
Norang: So this is where that big tree was!
[All three of them gaze at where the tree was, slowly drawing the tree with their eyes. Then they realise together the implication of the story, suddenly pointing at the tree stump and starting to dig the ground.]
6 Digging 1 [looking for the secret]
[They dig all together under the tree, to find what the child has left them. But the ground is hard and they do not make very much progress. Blue opens his little case, and finds a pair of scissors. He carefully cuts around the stump, and they lever it up. They dig again, but still do not find any secret or treasure. They are disappointed.]
7 The machine-monster
Norang: Nothing.
Blue: No secret. No treasure.
Aka: [acting out as he speaks] The secret was here, but then the monster came here, and ate it. Monster.
Norang: Monster?
Blue: There are no monsters here.
Aka: Monster, yes.
Blue: No. No monsters. I have seen everything.
Aka: Monsters. I heard them. They killed my tree. I will kill them.
[Blue runs through the screen. Aka and Norang try to stop him. Too late. They wonder about following, but do not dare.]
[There is a loud machine noise, and movement behind the screen, visible only as shapes, lights and shadows.]
Norang: Blue!
[Neither Norang or Aka dares go to save him. The ‘monster’ begins to come through the screen. Aka tries to summon the courage to fight it, but they hide. The ‘monster’ emerges, and it is a digging machine, being controlled by Blue.]
[Nervously, the other two children approach and observe]
8 Digging 2 [Going to Brazil]
Blue: There are no monsters here. Look.
Aka: No monster.
Blue: The monsters are out there. Out there. In here, we are safe.
[Blue demonstrates the way that the machine will work to dig. Aka encourages him to continue where they were digging. They operate the machine together, and dig deeper. Soon they have created a big hole. They look down the hole and call out to listen for an echo.]
Norang: Ooo hoo.
Aka: Brazil.
Norang: Brazil?
Blue: Brazil?
Aka: Brazil. If you dig. Down.. It is where you come out.
Norang: What?
Blue: He is right. We dug from the top of the world. We must have gone through the crust of the earth, and the earth’s core.
[Blue demonstrates]
Aka: Brazil.
Norang: Brazil? What is Brazil?
Aka: Brazil is a perfect place. Much better than this world. In Brazil, I am the king, and you and you. Noone stops us from exploring. We will have as many trees as we want, and we will be free to go everywhere, and climb.
Blue: A perfect place. Brazil? If Brazil is a perfect place it will be quiet. Nobody to disturb everything. Peace.
Norang: In Brazil, the city is like the countryside. You can hear the birds and smell the flowers. People do not shout. They sing. Everybody sings.
Aka: Come on.
[They go back to the hole. They look down. Aka summons up courage to jump in.]
Three, two, one.
[He jumps. They look down, he looks up.]
Norang: [calling] Brazil?
Aka: Brazil. Come on.
[Norang follows him]
Norang Three, two, one.
[She jumps. Aka greets her in ‘Brazil’. Blue waits at the top.]
Blue: Coming. Three, two, one…. Two, three, two, one..
[He jumps, and lands with the others in ‘Brazil’]
9 In Brazil
[There is a change of lighting and atmosphere. They are in ‘Brazil’ – where there are none of the problems that face them up on the land. They play this new world, where they are all of the people. Aka’s world is physical, Norangs world poetic and musical, Blues world is quiet and controlled]
10 Disappointment, back to reality
[The lights and atmosphere change back, and they return to the reality of the situation.]
[Norang remembers that she still has not found Yoghurt.]
Norang: Yoghurt.
[ Blue gets a piece of paper and starts designing something. Aka observes. It is a Yoghurt trap. They build it, with a crate. Aka tries it, but they need bait]
Blue: Bait.
[Norang finds a scrap of food in her pocket. They try out the trap, and catch Aka. They reset the trap and hide and wait. Norang sings. They sleep.]
[Time passes.]
11 Up the Crane
[The dawn is arriving. Aka rolls over in his sleep, and springs the trap. Norang wakes, and checks the trap. Yoghurt is not there. She resumes her search, while the others sleep. There is a noise, and she thinks she hears Yoghurt up the high crane. She builds some way of climbing up, and tries to get there, but she gets into danger and freezes. She calls out]
[The others wake and see Norang. They suggest ways of rescuing her. They offer the map for her to jump. Blue suggests a parachute. They try to climb up. Blue gets up to her, but then he is scared and stuck too. Aka follows and they are all on top.]
[There are sounds below. They realise they are all in danger. From the top, they can see the city. They look at the dangers that are out there, and at each other]
[Aka produces three seeds from his pocket]
Blue: Seeds
Norang: Seeds
Aka: From Brazil. To grow another tree.
[Norang holds her seed, counts to three and releases it. Blue does the same.]
[Aka counts to three and puts the seed in his mouth. Norang is angry with him. He spits it out, grins, and they watch it fall.]