A few weeks ago, we did an exercise in theatre in the making where we tried our hand at planning what it would be like to put a regular fairy tale on the stage. First, as a class, we chose a story, "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." Then we discussed our own visions of the story; what the setting should be and how that would change the story. After we had a clear view of what we all wanted, we were given a box of random objects which we were to use to build a set. This stimulated the reality that as a director, you are not always given what you want to make your vision a reality. Our creativity was truly tested here as we turned beach balls, spoons and even a Slinky into chairs. Once our set was completely put together (messy sketch of our final design shown right) it was story time! This is what I came up with:
Once upon a time in a small town in the middle of winter, a light snow was beginning to fall from the evening sky. A young girl trudged through the dusky light with one expression on her face: frustration. Goldilocks, with all the wonderful blessings in her life, could not stand living a moment longer. At least not the way she was living now. She had been dancing at a dinner party when her father announced to all of those gathered that she would be marrying Sir William Buffy, a wealthy man with a good name. At that instant, Goldilocks took off running. She didn’t want anything that her parents wanted for her. No fancy lifestyle, no rich husband, no dinner parties, just a regular house with a family she loved to spend time with.
With that in mind, Goldilocks, ran through the snow to the only place she like to be, a little village called Locktown. She used to run away from home when she was little and wondered what life was like outside her family’s manor.
So when Goldilocks finally arrived, she tripped over a big rock and stumbled into the snow.
“Oh, no!” she yelped, as she rose from the snow and mud. Her beautiful pink satin dress and purse were covered in mud, her left pigtail had fallen out, and, worst of all, her right heel had broken right off!
She searched for some place to sit while recovering from the catastrophe, and saw exactly what she was looking for off to her right along the forest edge. There was a strange house that looked as though it was made of cardboard that had some chairs next to it. It had a huge clock on top and almost looked like it had been abandoned, so she limped over and to take a closer look.
There were three chairs next to the cardboard house, but they were unlike anything she had ever seen before. The first one looked like a big plastic ball that had been deflated, but it was still taller than Goldilocks. She decided to take a seat anyway, but regretted it immediately. The chair sucked her in so fast that she couldn’t pull herself out before she had been entirely engulfed in this suffocating blob. She kicked and wriggled until the entire chair flipped over and dumped her onto the ground.
“That is just too big for me, that chair!” Goldilocks said.
But seconds later she discovered another chair, almost as strange as the first. It was metal and round and looked like a giant slinky! She tried to sit down, but every time she did, it bounced her right back on her feet. Luckily, a third chair was sitting next to this one. It looked like a giant spoon but it was the perfect size for Goldilocks so she sat down a little to quickly.
SNAP!
The chair broke right under Goldilocks and she fell into the snow in a crumpled heap of golden hair and pink satin. As soon as she managed to pick herself up, a shiver ran up her spine.
“I have got to warm up!” she exclaimed.
That was when she noticed that the big metal door of the house was hanging open, inviting her in with the cozy smell of hot porridge. Goldilocks hesitantly made her way over and shoved the door open with her broken shoe. The door, shaped like an oversized light switch cover clanked to the ground of the cardboard house and revealed the inside of this empty abode. Well, almost empty. Right in front of Goldilocks was a small wooden table with three bowls on top, each made with the head of a spoon and filled with porridge. Against her better judgment, Goldilocks couldn’t help but taste the delicious smelling food. It would be so nice to taste something warm on this snowy night. But the first bowl she put to her lips was freezing cold, so she moved on to the second bowl. But this bowl was scalding hot and Goldilocks squealed as she burnt her tongue. There was still one last bowl, though, and she just had to have some hot porridge, so Goldilocks took a long sip and smiled with satisfaction until,
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Goldilocks had bitten down on an orange spider that was floating in the porridge! She ran to the big bath tub made out of a paper bag and spat the spider out, feeling sick to her stomach. And so, fearing that she might pass out, Goldilocks laid down on the first of three beds in the house. It was comfortable but there was only one blanket spanned over all three beds and there just wasn’t enough on this one to keep her warm. So Goldilocks moved to the next bed but it was made out of wood and was too hard to sleep on. She moved on to the next bed and it was just right. It was a square battery case and Goldilocks fell asleep on it right away.
As the clock on top of the house ticked on, three bears walked out of the forest next to the house. They noticed that someone had been sitting in their chairs and that Baby Bear’s spoon chair had been broken. Papa Bear was the first to notice that their front door had been pushed over and Mama Bear immediately shouted that they had been robbed. As they entered their house, though, nothing they could see was missing except for a few bits of porridge. Then Baby Bear saw her…a blonde, pigtailed, dirty girl, lying in his bed. He gave out a loud scream and his parents came running.
The bears had no idea what to do with the girl, but Mama Bear knew that Papa Bear was getting hungry and she had to act fast. Luckily for her and Goldilocks, though, someone else was thinking faster. After he heard the screams next door, the local mason had come running. He ran through the door with an ax raise above his head and stopped short. He knew the Bears well and had no intention of hurting them until he saw Papa Bear bent over a young girl, baring his teeth. But she wasn’t just any girl. She was Goldilocks. He raised his ax and charged, swooping Goldilocks in his arms and breaking through one of the cardboard walls out into the snowy night.
The mason ran and ran until he knew Papa Bear could never find them and the he placed sleeping Goldilocks next to him and pushed her hair out of her face. She woke with a start, very discombobulated and trying to see where she was. But she couldn’t believe her ears when she heard a voice coming from right next to her, saying,
“Its okay, we’re safe.”
It sounded a lot like…no way,
“John!” her childhood sweetheart who lived in Locktown.
“I missed you,” he said.
And they lived happily ever after.
~ Julie
