Mijeong's Version

Here is Mijeong's version of the script, translated back from Korean by Yeon. On Saturday the writers will be discussing these two drafts. I am struck by the similarity, and how interesting the little differences are... anyone with any thoughts, do feed them in to us, please...

Looking for Yoghurt


CAST
Norang
Blue
Aka


This play takes place in near future, modern city, in building site with fences.
Time of the play is from late afternoon when the sun begins to fall to dawn next day.


Scene 1. Outside of building site

Norang is looking for something between the audiences. She’s calling some signal, looking everywhere. She comes up on the stage, still looking. She finds a footmark on the floor.

Norang: Yoghurt…

Norang crouches herself and does a cat posture and follows the footmark. The footmark is also on the wall. She raises her head, following the trail, and is surprised with the view of enormous building site. There’s a sign written ‘Danger, No entry!’. Norang stands there, can’t make her mind whether to go in or not. She finally gathers herself and breaks in the site.
Aka jumps in. He’s posturing as if he’s a glorious hero who’s about to attack the enemy. He rolls, jumps, and kicks just like he’s fighting with the enemy. He comes to near the gate of the building site. He touches a rope and pretends some electric shock as if it was an electrified wire he touched. He rolls over and now he’s inside the building site.


Scene 2: Inside the building site

Norang appears behind stuff. From now Norang and Aka repeat showing and hiding themselves like a hide and seek.

Norang: Yoghurt.

Aka is shocked. He hides himself, sticks his head out.

Aka: Banana.

Norang is also shocked, looks around her surrounding.

Norang: Yoghurt…
Aka: Hamburger.

Norang searches for the sound. Aka also comes out and looks for the origin of the sound when he hears nothing. They both step backward cautiously and bump against each other. They both shout with surprise. Aka covers his mouth and waves his hand. Norang catches it’s meaning and covers her mouth too. Aka approaches her, Norang runs away. Aka chases her, pointing his sword as if he’s in a war game. They chase around and round holding both ends of a rolling screen. Aka changes his direction and gets near to Norang. Norang sits, covering her ears, frightened. Aka backs off realizing his intension was misunderstood. He goes back to the screen and does hand game. It relieves Norang a little. She watches it. The hand game is stopped suddenly. She doesn’t see it anymore. She wonders, goes behind a screen softly. Aka sneaks himself when Noranag comes to the back of the screen and now they are in opposite side. This time it’s Norang who does hand game. Aka holds his hand out through the screen. Norang hesitates a little and holds the hand. Aka pulls her.

Aka: Aka!
Norang: Huh?
Aka: Aka!
Norang: A…ka?
Aka: Aka.
Norang: I’m Norang.
Aka: Norang?
Aka: Aka, Norang, Norang, Aka, Aka, Yoghurt?

The word Yoghurt triggers Norang. She resumes her search.


Scene 3: Finding Blue

Aka continues his war game. Sometimes he mimics Norang.

Nornag: Yoghurt…
Aka: Monster…

Aka finds some light. He calls Norang.

Aka: Yoghurt?

Norang looks where the lights come from delightfully hoping she could find Yoghurt. But she is surprised.

Norang: (shakes her head) No, it’s not Yoghurt.
Aka: (shakes his head too) No? Yoghurt No? Monster?

Aka slowly approaches with sword where the lights come from. It eats Aka’s sword. Aka is frightened. Now he’s really convinced it’s a monster. He calls out every hero’s name, posturing hero’s action, then rush to the light. He takes off its cover. It becomes quite, no reaction. He looks into it and finds Blue hiding.

Blue: How come you are here? Get out! This is an off-limits place. It’s dangerous for children.

Aka shouts ‘Monster’, rushes to him again and takes Blue out from his hideout. Blue struggles and covers his face with a newspaper. Aka tears up the newspaper. Blue covers his eyes with what it’s left then returns to his hideout.

Aka: (rush to him again) Monster!
Norang: (stops Aka) Wait! Don’t.

Norang finds another newspaper around her and hands it to Blue. Blue snatches it quickly and covers his face again. Norang knocks to Blue’s hideout. Knock, knock. No response. Norang knocks again rhythmically. Aka reacts to it but Blue still doesn’t respond. Norang hushes to Aka. Blue throws Aka’s sword through the boxes of his hideout. Aka grabs it quickly.

Norang: You live here? What are you doing here? Do you know this place well? I’m looking for Yoghurt.
(she imitates searching motion.)

Blue throws a folded paper. Norang and Aka unfold it together.

Norang: It’s a map!
Aka: Map! (in Japanese)

They say ‘map’ in each other’s language and understand the word ‘map’.


Scene 4: Exploring the building site

Aka seems to get some ideas from the map. He nods. He starts to move, mumbling himself and pointing somewhere with his finger as if he’s trying to find a way. He points somewhere and tells Norang to follow him. Aka goes cross an obstacle narrowly like an adventure. Norang embraces his imagination, follows him mimicking but she’s not as good as him. They are stuck in a net, can’t move. Blue comes in and saves them.

Norang: I’m Norang. Norang!
Aka: Aka.
Norang: How about you? (pointing herself and Aka) Norang! Aka! You?
Blue: Blue.

Norang offers her hand to Blue but he doesn’t respond. Norang asks Blue to join. Aka’s on the lead, restarts his expedition. He jumps across a stone bridge with big steps. Norang follows, just like him. Blue just walks with small steps. Aka, jumps into the sea and swim with Norang. Blue pulls up his trousers then walks on tiptoe cautiously across a pool of water. Aka and Norang grasp a rope and go across a cliff. Blue lets go a rope that Aka sends from the other side of the cliff. He grasps it again when it comes back. Aka and Norang catch Blue with their whole body. They continue their exploration until Aka finds the place where his tree was.


Scene 5: Tree and grandmother’s story

Aka looks for his tree. He can’t find it. He gets upset. Then he finds a stump of a tree. He’s bewildered. Blue explains him that the tree has been cut down by machines. Aka stops Blue’s explanation and expresses his anger very strongly to him. Blue defends himself aggressively when Aka pushes him.

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 hard the stump of the tree. 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 her singing.

Norang: (to Aka and Blue) This is a story from my grandmother, my mother’s mother! My grandmother.
Once upon a time, way back in the past, there was a village. There were little houses and a big
tree in the middle of the village. A really big tree!
Aka: A tree?
Blue: Tree?
Norang: Yes, a tree. And there was a blind old man in that village.

Aka and Blue follow actions of Norang and say ‘old man’ in their each language.

Norang: Then one day, the old man 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, Our Baby.
Aka: Our Baby.
Blue: Our Baby.
Norang: Then one night, (makes sounds of bird singing at night) in a dark night, when everybody is still in
a sleep…

Norang, Blue, Aka lie down and close their eyes.

Norang: All of a sudden it became really bright in the middle of the night. The sun was rising. Everyone in
the village woke up and looked up the sky.

Norang makes Aka and Blue stand up.

Norang: In that moment!

Norang hides and starts to make a sound of baby crying. Norang stands up and says ‘Our Baby’, 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.

Three: Our Baby!

Norang describes ‘Our Baby’ that the baby walked by the age of 2, rode a horse by the age of 5, caught a flying bird with arrow by the age of 7. Aka and Blue show it with mime.

Norang: The words flew everywhere.

They whisper each other, spreading the rumor. Norang and Aka make Blue a king.

Norang: King!
Aka: King!
Blue: King!
Norang: Words finally reached to the king.
Blue: (as a king) No! Just like there’s only one sun, only one king in this world, which is me! Just me!
Get him right now!

Norang and Aka, ride horses.

Norang: (as a old man) 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 someone’s head, ‘Our Baby’ appears. King carries off ‘Our Baby’. ‘Our Baby’ stops and tells something to people of village, that he hid something under the big tree. What he hid is for people and it will save the world. He explains it with mime. He asks people to keep a secret. King takes him away.

Norang: That’s how ‘Our Baby’ went to heaven.

Aka and Blue run to Norang

Aka: Then?
Blue: And?
Norang: What I mean is that this is where that big tree was!

All three of them gaze at the tree, slowly drawing the tree with their eyes.
Then suddenly pointing the stump and start to dig the ground.


Scene 6: First digging – looking for a secret

They dig the ground with their hands but it’s hard. It only makes their hands hurt. Blue takes his scissors out of his special case and cuts the stump. They pull up the stump together and dig again. They dig hard but only find some miscellaneous junks. Their digging starts to slow down and finally ends. Disappointed. They go back to their own things. Aka does sword fight, Blue reads a peace of paper, Norang collects something (seeds) and put them in her pocket.

아까: 누가 보물을 가져갔지? 누구야? 누가 나무를 잘라냈지? 누구야?
그래, 역시 이곳에 괴물이 있는 거야.
괴물이 나무도 베어 버리고 보물도 먹어버렸어! 괴물을 무찌르자!
노랑: 괴물? monster?
블루: 여기에 몬스터 없어.
아까: 몬스터, 있어. (시끄러운 소리, 천장과 벽에 어른거리는 그림자!)
블루: 없어!
아까: 있어!,..
Aka: Who took the secret? Who is it? Who cut off the tree? Who is it? Yeah, it is certain that the
monster lives here. The monster cut off the tree and ate the secret too! Let’s beat the monster!
Norang: Monster (in Korean)? Monster?
Blue: There’s no monster.
Aka: There is! (loud noises. Some big shadow over the fence!)
Blue: There’s no monster!
Aka: There is!

Blue and Aka persist.


Scene 7: Machine monster

Blue runs through the fence (screen). Aka stops him saying there’s a monster but Blue runs anyway. Norang and Aka hug Blue’s special case and shout out Blue. Some pause. A machine monster starts to move with big noises. Norang shouts ‘No, Blue!’, Aka plucks up his courage and goes into the screen. Then Blue comes out conducting the machine. Blue controls the machine quite skillfully. Aka shows his interest to the machine. Blue lets him to control it. Aka is excited controlling the machine.

Aka: Right! We can dig the ground with it. Let’s dig again!
Norang: Dig?
Blue: Dig again? But there’s nothing there. No secret.
Aka: No, Brazil!
Norang: Brazil?
Blue: Brazil?

Aka makes a globe with Blue’s arms. He explains when you keep digging the ground, you can reach the other side of the globe and meet Brazil.

Norang: Brazil, why?

Aka explains his Brazil. Where there’s a big comfy bed, where he can climb up the tree whenever he wants, where he can pick fruits, rub them on his cloth and eat, where he can just rattle around. Norang understands what he meant. She explains her Brazil. Where it’s full of flowers, full of it’s scent, a little stream, singing bird, no trash, pure air, no contamination. Blue also explains his Brazil. Where it’s very quite, undisturbed, controllable, where he can make a spaceship and do a space trip.


Scene 8: Second digging – to Brazil

Three of them decide to go to Brazil, they starts to dig again. They look down the hole, make some noises. The howl is loud. Aka goes into the hole, then Norang, finally Blue.


Scene 9: Brazil

- needs more time to think….


Scene 10: Back to reality

They realize they are actually hungry. They say things they want to eat. Bread, sandwich, sweet potato pie, kimchi, chocolate, yoghurt… Norang resumes her search for Yoghurt, but stops soon. Blue and Aka make a trap and show it to Norang in order to console her. Norang is delighted. They place themselves a bit far from the trap and wait together. Norang starts to sing. Blue and Aka join in and hum it together. They fall a sleep soon.

Clock ticking.


Scene 11: Up to the crane

Aka pulls a string that is attached to the trap by accident while he rolls over in his sleep. Norang wakes up with that sound. She shelters Blue and Aka with things she finds around her. Then she hears sound of cat up on the crane. Norang is afraid but gathers herself and starts to climb up the crane. She misses her step, things fall down. Blue and Aka wake up. They try to save Norang. In the end they both climb up the crane. They are afraid as much as Norang. They close their eyes, holding each other tight. Norang starts to sing again in order to beat her fear. Blue and Aka sing too. They open their eyes with count of three. They look down the city. It’s their first time and it’s beautiful. They point their own houses.

They hear workers’ step coming to the building site.


Blue: Let’s go down.
Aka: Yup. (starts to move)
Norang: Wait!

Norang takes out seeds she finds when they dug the ground. She gives them to Blue and Aka.

Blue: Seed.
Norang: (imitate Blue’s English) Seed.
Aka: (imitate as well) Seed. Seed (in Japanese)
Norang: (imitate Aka’s Japanese) Seed
Blue: (imitate Aka’s Japanese) Seed
Norang: Seed (in Korean)
Aka: Seed (in Korean)
Blue: Seed (in Korean)

Norang throws it lightly. Blue put it on his palm and blows it. Aka eats it. Norang and Aka are surprised. Aka spits it. They all watch seeds falling, describing a big parabola. They laugh, slowly come down from the crane.

End.