SCRIPT:

KEY -
*X* = CUE
(X) = STAGE DIRECTIONS
X = TECH
1) LEANORD PLAYS from 0:00 – full volume, LIGHTS
SLOW FADE UP (bright white 100% intensity)
*(Millie crawls up and hits the radio)*
2) LEANORD CUTS, ANNOUNCEMENT 1 – full volume,
YMCA PLAYS from 0:00 – full volume, flashing
Multicoloured party lights
LEO : Thank you thank you, Ladies and gentlemen of this
sacred nation, I stand before you today not as your president
but as your brother birthed from the same shimmering womb of
this nation as you.
LUCY: “FREEDOM!”
So it is with a heavy heart that I must promulgate that the war
must stretch on indefinitely. Our enemies have made a
mockery of us for too long and we must put our country first,
they threaten our democracy, and our way of life. So they must
be annihilated. Do not see this as a declaration of war, but a
baby step towards peace, you see with no bloodshed there can
be no peace spread, with no bullet holes there can be no
healed souls and with no grenade there can be no band-aid.
Thats why we need you to make the most noble and necessary
of sacrifices for your country. You country needs you! ( Points
at people in the audience) You! You! You! Woman(not you). So
you look at your Father and tell him to trade his medication for
a rifle, you look at your little brother and tell him “ Your exams
can wait get on those frontlines.”
*God bless you and God bless peace.*
 3) ANNOUNCEMENT 2, HOUSE LIGHTS COME UP,
LIGHTS FADE (to 80% intensity, natural day light),

THIYANI: let me get you to your next meeting

LEO: what’s your name again?
(The two exit)*
4) After everyone exits stage TAKE ME
OUT/ANNOUNCEMENT 3 starts from 0:00 – full
volume, SPOTLIGHT downstage centre, LED lights
BLACKOUT
*(pyramid formation with LUCY downstage centre with arms
crossed)*
5) TAKE ME OUT/ANNOUNCEMENT 3 fades out,
spotlight fades out, LEDs fade up (to 100%
intensity, pink and white)
Lucy: So, you’re thinking about enlisting?
This is a job like no other. I wake up every morning, proud to
serve my country. Well mostly I’m happy the mustard gas
didn’t choke me to death in my sleep. Once it's in your lungs,
allllll oxygen turns to water! So, it's like drowning on land,
which if you think about it, makes this whole experience just
one long beach trip! Except for the trench foot, and the rats,
and the death and the blood, and the trauma, and the shell
shock
LEO: let’s keep it on theme please
Lucy: Oh alright! Really, I'm one of the luckiest men in the
world. At 6 AM I’d then start my patrol across the battlefield;
We're told to be quiet and careful.
(LUCY places foot down)*
6) CLICK sound effect
(LUCY lifts foot) *
 7) BLACKOUT, LED LIGHTS SLOW FADE UP (all red 50%
intensity), when LUCY, LEO, MILLIE AND ISABELLA
step on “landmine” (downstage center spot) play
CLICK SOUND EFFECT – full volume
8) When THIYANI –5th person- steps on landmine
(downstage center spot) Play EXPLOSION SOUND
EFFECT – FULL VOLUME, BLACKOUT
*LUCY: one wrong move and you’re dead
(5 second silent pause)*
9) After pause LIGHTS UP (back to pink and
white/yellow - 100% intensity)
Let's meet my mate, Derek! He is great at that kind of stuff; he
hasn’t said a word in 7 days! In fact, he hasn’t moved from his
post in 7 days. He just sits there, slumped in the mud and
remains of other fallen soldiers. I tried to lift him out of there to
prevent the trench foot and the rats from getting to him but
gosh was he carrying a lot of dead weight! “Lay off the pies
porky” I told him...I’m surprised he didn’t like that one normally
Derek loves a good joke.
Anyways! My day normally finishes with my favorite maths
game because who says you can’t learn on the job. I count up
all the dead bodies...and I get extra bonus points for any
missing limbs...
*you know, the ones where you can really see...(gruesome
description muted by beeping sound)
10) BEEPING SOUND EFFECT – full volume, LIGHTS SLOWLY
FADE (to red 100% intensity)

*(LUCY dragged off by LEO)*

11) CUT BEEPING SOUND EFFECT, LIGHTS FADE UP (natural
daylight, 100% intensity) OHIO/GUNSHOT plays at 50%
volume

*ALL: (chanting) THOU SHALL NOT KILL...

(gunshot sound effect within music track)*
12) LIGHTS CHANGE (to red and blue), spotlight fades up,
OHIO/GUNSHOT TRACK fades out
THIYANI: HELP, HELP, PLEASE HELP!!!!! *crying/sobbing
4 dead. 9 injured. And for what. Protesting for anti-war?
Protesting for government treatment? Or protesting for
government decisions.
I would say all 3.
Why, why, why??????... Why could we not protest freely without
all these stupid guards here. Do we have no freedom? *Pace
around frantically* We as students have a right to freedom of
speech, do we not?
I remember some demonstrations going on, small
demonstrations. There was something in the administration
building or whatever, but they were small demonstrations. I
remember demonstrations by the blacks on campus for some
rights that they felt they weren’t getting more so then I
remember demonstrations regarding invasions and so on.
I mean there is no great fear sweeping over the dorms that a
national guard will show up in a dorm room and surround us,
but I think there is a fear in everyone that, you know what is
gonna happen in the world? What is this going to mean for us?
Is this gonna be a major war?
People call this as the age of horror*
13) BLACKOUT

but it isn’t an age of horror. The invasions, there is a fear

amongst us, I KNOW there is a fear that this is going to become
something larger. Personally, I find I don’t have as much at
stake, because of the draft, the lottery, my number is so high
that by the time I was gonna get drafted everyone was going
to.
14) LIGHTS FADE UP (natural daylight 100% intensity)

So, at that point I didn’t have the fear. But I think that was part
of the concern about what is happening.
Us students always have a known regard of anyone in uniform,
and I know a lot of students who are in college just to avoid the
draft. That is part of the reason why a lot of these students are
going to college.
It is to avoid the draft.*
15) GUNSHOTS SOUND EFFECT – full volume, BACKLIGHT
FADES (blue 100% intensity), FRONTLIGHT CHANGES (bright
white), CENTER SPOTLIGHT FADES UP

Leo: Ladies and Gentlemen, I can assure you that regarding the
tragedy that took place in one of our universities, that the police
had no other choice, these protesters were savage and
aggressive

and they had to GO!*

16) On “GO!” GUNSHOT SOUND EFFECT – full volume,

SPOTLIGHT CUTS

Leo: I really hope that we can see more peace...But you arent really
interested in that anyway, because ladies and gentlemen it’s time for

The WARS NOT POINTLESS!*

17) “THE PRICE IS RIGHT THEME TUNE” PLAYS, COLOURFUL

BACKLIGHTS (purple/light blue alternating), FRONT LIGHTS
FADE UP (bright white, clinic/studio light) CENTER
SPOTLIGHT UP

LEO: Hello and welcome to... Let’s welcome our three lovely contestants
competing for tonight's top secret grand prize. Contestant number one,
how many million tons of bombs have we dropped on ememy territory?

THIYANI: ummmm is it 20,00?

*(LUCY & LEO laugh)

LEO: WRONG! Its of course 7 million

LUCY: You’re out!*

18) GUNSHOT SOUND EFFECT – full volume, SPOTLIGHT

immeditaley CUTS then fades back up slowly after THIYANI
has walked out of spotlight

LEO: contestant number 2, how many of our own soldiers have I sent to
war to be slaughtered?

ISABELLA: Oo I know this one, is it 2 thousand?

*(LUCY and LEO laugh)

LEO: WRONG! I’ve killed 54 thousand men at war

LUCY: You are out!*

 19) GUNSHOT SOUND EFFECT – full volume, SPOTLIGHT
CUTS then fades back up slowly after ISABELLA has walked
out of spotlight

LEO: On to our last question and final contestant, what is the average of
conscription?

MILLIE:19

LEO: Thats CORRECT!

20) THE PRICE IS RIGHT THEME TUNE PLAYS again at 0

seconds, FADES OUT at 7 seconds when LUCY and LEO are
stood either side of MILLIE under SPOTLIGHT

LUCY: let’s find out what you’ve won! You have won an all expenses paid
trip to....

LUCY AND LEO: the front lines!!

LEO: Good luck out there champ your gonna need it

LEO throws MILLIE forwards*

21) LIGHTS FADE (green and white ) replaces Spotlight

MILLIE: Stay calm Adam, remember your training.

(He raises his gun hand, it is shaking)

Steady.

(He uses his free hand to steady the gun hand and peers round the
column again, the Vietnamese soldier is walking through looking for
Americans but in the other direction and hasn’t seen him, Adam points his
gun)

Keep the enemy in your sights. Stay still. Don’t breathe. Line up your shot.
(He raises his gun aimed at the soldier's chest) Head or heart? Head or
heart? Heart.

He’s smaller than I thought he’d be, younger. Like me. Just like me. They
told me I would be killing scum, filthy animals. They told me so many
times I expected to slay a beast. But all I see is a boy like me. I tried to tell
myself I was a man, more than a man, a killing machine. But he’s
coughing up blood. From the wound I inflicted. And I recognise the fear in
his eyes as the same fear within me.

The blood is pooling faster than any bandage could stop and in his eyes, I
can already see the shimmer of some distant light. Can he even see me? I
don’t know what I’m supposed to do now. Basic training didn’t cover this
part. They taught us all about the kill but nothing of the death that must
follow. I know they expect me to just walk away. But I can't. I can’t just…
leave him here.
(Addressing the soldier) Sally begged me not to leave. Sallys my wife. Do
you have a wife? A girl maybe? (No answer) Well my Sally, she said ‘the
only thing those big hands of yours are good for is building cars’ (the Viet
Cong fighter begins closing his eyes) hey hey no don’t do that, stay here
(pause) well maybe my Sally was right. I’m not built for war. It’s not really
like I’m doing my duty as a soldier right now is it? But I didn’t have a
choice. So, I was sent away to basics, to war. For God and country. I don’t
feel awful holy right now though.

(he turns to the Viet Cong fighter and realises he has already died)

No. No no no no. I’ve never seen a person die before. Not once. And now
he’s dead... and I did it. They all talk about how this is the moment you
feel like a hero. You’ve defeated the enemy. So why don’t I feel
victorious? This ain’t right. What does it matter to save a country if you kill
its people? Who am I protecting then? The government that runs it? All
the soldiers talk of returning home to receive a hero's welcome. Celebrate
our saviours, our protectors of good western values. But really, they
celebrate murderers, applaud as fleets of trained killers flood their streets.
Killers who gloat about having the highest body count in their platoon.
Who gave them the right to take the life of a fellow human? A murderer
gets locked away for life. But you're a soldier? Oh, fine kill 20. Sally was
right. The man she married was not a killer. So, I am not that man
anymore. I don’t know who I am anymore.

Keep the enemy in your sight. Stay still. Don’t breathe. Line up your shot.*

22) BLACKOUT

Head or heart? Head or heart? Head.

(Soldier holds gun up to head,torches turn off behind tarp) *

23) Wait 3 seconds after torches go off,GUNSHOT SOUND

EFFECT , LIGHTS FADE UP (natural daylight), God Yu Tekem
Laef Blong Mi plays at 0 seconds cuts off once Isabella is the
only one left on stage

Isabella: Love. Sometimes it comes too fast all at once it overwhelms

and overpowers you all your emotions are just futile and you can think
about is the person in front of you.

I wanted to be a generals wife to see him adorned with badges of

honor to fight and serve his country like a real man. I was indoctrinated
by their lies their propaganda it was only then I opened my eyes to the
truth seeing the “women, children, soldiers on both sides being blown
up seeing their body parts, blood, body bags and people crying”. I was
only a simple beauty queen blinded by the fairy tail illusion formatted
in my head.. When he left a part of our relationship died, I was pleading
screaming in a frenzy "I think you’re going to die "I had to control
myself. I despised him for leaving a part of himself behind just to
become a heartless killing machine
being the reasons that other families mourn the loss of their sons.*
24) LIGHTS FADE (To blue 100% intensity)

When they gave me that tiny envelope full of cash I knew I just knew
that…that he was dead. I can feel myself rotting away from inside,
thoughts of him dead on battlefield play over and over and over …it
wont go away I’m forced to accept that heaven has gained another
untimely angel he was ripped away from me
*and I am left to suffer the never ending burden.*

25) LIGHTS FADE BACK UP (to natural white lighting)

And all that’s left is this meaningless price of fabric and a few quid
every month.
We see soldiers in the streets my kids run out calling out to them, they
think their father had returned and for a moment I let myself believe
it’s true. But the mind has a cruel way of playing tricks on you.
I never stopped loving him*

26) END OF THE WORLD PLAYS from 0:00 – 30% volume,

LIGHTS FADE (to pink and yellow – warmer tone)

ISABELLA: Even though I was filled with hatred when he left me.
I don’t know how I can keep living whilst my head plays scenarios of
what could have been…

27) End of the World Cuts off, LIGHTS FADE BACK (to
harsh white)

ISABELLA: He died for a war he didn’t even believe in

LEO: Everyone believes in the war
25) Chapel of Love play at 0 seconds after Leo blows out
“smoking” finger gun*,

Gunshot plays in Mix, Lucy, Thiyani, Millie and Isabella keel over
as if in a bow, Leo waves to audiece, Wait 2 seconds and Blackout
– END OF PIECE