Once Upon a Time

A rock fable by Bartlett-Leehy-O’Mara.
Duration: 60 minutes. 16 principals. Provision for choruses of nursery rhyme characters and zombie army. 1 basic set.

Written to suit performers from middle primary to early secondary.

Who let Captain Boredom and the Zombie Army out? Mother Goose has been away and Goosey Gander has been in charge. Imagination has disappeared from Nursery Town. Can Mayor Humpty rally the good folk of Nursery Town and defeat the forces of boredom?

Detailed description

SYNOPSIS

Once Upon a time, in Nursery Town, MOTHER GOOSE had gone on a holiday to visit the Man in the Moon. MAYOR HUMPTY DUMPTY takes the opportunity to ‘re-structure’ Nursery Town and make it more efficient. Policies are passed and timetables established. There will be no more frivolous, chaotic goings on in Nursery Town. No more people jumping over candlesticks, cats playing fiddles or dishes running away with spoons. Order will be established. The shopkeepers are pleased, but some like MARY, MARY, JACK HORNER and THE DOCK TWINS are not so sure.

As HUMPTY is opening the new Nursery Town Mall, OWL arrives with a grave concern. JACK & JILL enter, carrying a cardboard BARBER BLACKSHEEP, LITTLE BOY BLUE carries in a cardboard COW, PETER PUMPKIN EATER’S wife carries a cardboard PETER – even KING COLE has found his FIDDLERS THREE turned to cardboard. With so much order, the magic is beginning to fade in Nursery Town. Children are ceasing to read the rhymes and one by one the characters are turning to cardboard … and CAPTAIN BOREDOM is out of the cage. And this time he has a ZOMBIE ARMY.

MOTHER GOOSE returns, with the not-too-bright GOOSEY GANDER. She is shocked to find what has been happening in her absence and orders the immediate dismantling of the mall. She is going to put some fun back into Nursery Town.

Meanwhile, CAPT BOREDOM and his SERGEANT are with the ZOMBIE ARMY wondering how to get themselves a spy. In wanders GOOSEY, whom they mislead and charm with a cap and badge. He is now their unwitting spy, reporting on the goings-on in Nursery Town.

Meanwhile, in order to put some fun back into Nursery Town, HUMPTY has organised the Nursery Town Olympics, with the Candlestick Jump, the Egg & Spoon Race and other events. But cardboard characters continue to turn up. MOTHER GOOSE arrives with OWL. They have a plan. They will trap CAPTAIN BOREDOM by letting him think they have all turned to cardboard and allowing him to take the throne.

But to make the plan work, they need to lure him. Just then, GOOSEY wanders in, with his cap and badge. MOTHER GOOSE immediately realises that he has been duped by the CAPTAIN and offers him the position of AMBASSADOR, a post that comes complete with a chain of office (donated grudgingly by HUMPTY). GOOSEY goes off to set up the meeting with the CAPTAIN and the folk of NURSERY TOWN prepare their trap.

BOREDOM and the ARMY enter Nursery Town to find nothing but cardboard cutouts. He takes the throne, but as he does, the Nursery Folk come from behind the cutouts and turn them around to reveal bars on the other side. They encircle him and he is trapped. They place him in a playpen.

With such a burst of imagination and unexpected events, the excitement and fun has suddenly come back to Nursery Town and all of the cardboard characters come to life. Children are reading the rhymes again, HUMPTY has learned about the value of play, imagination and spontaneity and GOOSEY has learned the folly of letting ambitions cloud judgement. This calls for a Royal party in Nursery Town.

Product samples

Once Upon a Time script excerpt

Once Upon a Time sample