Telling Tales
The demo tracks of Telling Tales are performed to a Sibelius backing track with a cast as
follows: (click on the names for
further information)
DIANA…MARCELLA
HOLMES
KATE…SUSIE
YOUNG
JUDY…SIANI
OWEN
PAUL…..RICHARD HARTLEY
ADAM…. ANDREW
THWAITE
In the synopsis which follows below, live links to the tracks on the
demo will be added as they are finished.
Click the 
button to
hear an MP3 file of the track (if you have a broadband connection) or the 
button to stream the file (for a dial-up
connection). (You may of course prefer
to download the files by right clicking on “mp3” or “wma” and "saving
target" to your hard disc.)
SYNOPSIS
A
group of five adults meet on the street by chance, years after they were at
school together…
We
see them grow up from babies to 6/7 year olds (OPENING 
/ 
)
and then perform a show for us This is
introduced by bossy DIANA whose says her tale THE SNOW QUEEN is going to be the
grand finale. Each child tells a
separate Hans Andersen fairy tale with the aid of the other children, a giant
toybox and the occasional glove puppet.
PAUL
bullies the group into letting him start by telling the story of THE
TINDERBOX. This, he says, will feature
a witch and a princess which excites the three girls (I WANT TO BE A WITCH 
/ 
).
As the Soldier, PAUL marches down the road (MARCHING 
/ 
) and meets the Witch, played by JUDY who
tells him how he can become rich (THE WITCH’S INSTRUCTIONS 
/ 
)
Trying to scare the other children about the big dogs in the witch’s
cave, he eventually scares himself so much that he wets his pants and has to
break off. 
/ 
After
a hiatus where two children each start telling a story at the same time, (ONCE
UPON A TIMES 
/ 
)
KATE tells the story of THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES. Paul as the Emperor bullies ADAM as the Minister about his new
coat (BEAUTIFUL 1 
/ 
). DIANA and KATE arrive as the cheating
weavers who will make a magical suit which only clever people will be able to
see. (WEAVING 
/ 
). The Minister is sent to check out the
cloth (BEAUTIFUL 2 
/ 
)
and has to pretend he sees it, which pleases the weavers (WEAVING 2 
/
). He reports back to the Emperor (BEAUTIFUL 3
/ 
)
who in turn pretends that he too can see the cloth (BEAUTIFUL 4 
/ 
). As the child who doesn’t understand that
she’s supposed to see something when nothing is there, JUDY’s rapping of the conclusion to the
tale puts DIANA into a temper and over-excites the rest of the group. (THE DUDE IS NUDE 
/ 
).
There’s
then an argument as to which should come next: PAUL finishing THE TINDERBOX,
JUDY an unwilling THUMBELINA or ADAM telling THE STEADFAST TOY SOLDIER. KATE resolves the situation by the idea
that JUDY and ADAM each tell a piece of their story in turns. DIANA’s proposal that she must play the
Ballerina in ADAM’s story – because she does ballet classes – is met with
PAUL’s ideas that “BALLET IS SOPPY.” (
/ 
)
ADAM introduces the Toy Soldier, STANDING ON PARADE (
/ 
).
and KATE as
Thumbelina’s mother sing of their HEART’S DESIRE 
/ 
. Thumbelina’s mother visits DIANA as a
witch (PRESTO BINGO 
/ 
)
and Thumbelina comes into being (played by JUDY.) After her mother sings her to sleep (LULLABY 
/
), she is stolen by a female toad who wants her
as a bride for her son. (THE TOADS 
/ 
).
Meanwhile, ADAM as the toy soldier is thrown from a window and lands in the street.
Thumbelina is freed from the Toads by some friendly fish
and floats downstream on her lily pad.
A passing group of cockchafer beetles comes down and torments her. The languorous male thinks he might marry
her but is easily put off by his two female companions. (THE COCKCHAFERS 
/ 
).
JUDY as Thumbelina is unhappily floating downstream in the
rain as ADAM as the Steadfast Toy Soldier is sent by paper boat into the
drain. (THE SAME BOAT 
/ 
).
Before
they can finish their song, ADAM feels the need for a break and an interval is
called.
After
the interval, JUDY is found sitting ON THE LILY PAD 
/ 
. Thumbelina comes ashore and after a summer
in the sun is taken in by a kindly Mouse (DIANA) whose neighbour the Mole
(PAUL) comes to visit and takes a liking to Thumbelina (MRS MOUSE AND MR MOLE
01 
/ 
). The Mole shows them a dead swallow in a
nearby tunnel and that night Thumbelina is moved to take out a blanket of
flowers to bury the bird properly (THE SWALLOW 
/ 
).
In fact, the swallow is not dead and Thumbelina nurses him back to
health over the winter.
The
Mouse becomes increasingly insistent that Thumbelina should marry the boorish
Mole (MRS MOUSE AND MR MOLE 02 
/ 
) and, to flee him, Thumbelina eventually
agrees to escape south with the Swallow.
Here she finds and falls mutually in love with the tiny king of the
flowers at the story’s end.
DIANA
has now changed her mind about her finale story; it’s going to be THE RED
SHOES. Or maybe THE LITTLE MERMAID…
PAUL,
always a bully, insists on completing THE TINDERBOX. As the Soldier he sings about the joys of MONEY 
/ 
which he eventually fritters away. He discovers that the witch’s tinderbox
will summon up the magical dogs from the cave to obey his commands and, after
replenishing his finances, sends the dog to bring him the beautiful princess
for the evening. (FROM THE TINDERBOX 
/ 
).
The Queen tracks him down and he is arrested and put in prison. (HEART’S DESIRE REPRISE 
/ 
). At the point of his execution however, he
manages to get hold of the tinderbox, sets the dog to dispose of the King and
all the court and ends by marrying the princess and becoming king himself.
ADAM
finally gets to complete his story, fighting with the rat in the drain and ending
up back at the home where he started out.
(THE SOLDIER AND THE RAT 
/ 
). With the burning of the paper ballerina at
the end of the tale, DIANA gets totally furious and throws a tantrum. All the other children are fed up with her
bossiness by this point and leave.
Alone and desolate, DIANA’S STORY 
/ 
turns out to be far different from her
expectations.
JUDY
comes back on and comforts her with the idea that “EVERYONE IS SOMETIMES THE
UGLY DUCKLING.” 
/ 
. The other children join in and all too
soon we realise they are growing up.
The
group of adults part on the street.
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For further information or, please, to send feedback, please email me
at tales@markbunyan.com.