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It was time to sharpen the pencil as it was apparent that the French Scenes for "The Gardener's Wife" needed to be finished before having a successful practice of telling the story.
It was not enough to read a story over and over again to understand its essence. By reflecting on the environment, character feelings, and what made the plot move forward, the whole story became real.
Despite the pondering, I never wrote out what exactly I would say. I did not want the story to become frozen to certain words. I wanted a flow that could change after each telling.
Here are the complete French Scenes for this Colombian story--
***Please note that the Gardener's Wife will simply be known as Wife. I have also included the first 4 scenes from a previous post so that all 15 scenes could be seen here.
Scene 1:
Enter Wife
Exit Husband
Environment--
- Inside house looking out to garden
- Fall time for Colombia (or late summer)
- Beautiful day--sun, blue sky, hear birds and breeze
- Wife--longing, wishful, hopeful, happy/sad, bewildered at husband's view
- Husband--happy, befuddled at the answer that his wife wants of him, preoccupied with work
Moving Plot Forward--
- Establish that the Wife and Husband are childless
Enter Thoughts about the 3 Sisters
Exit with Triple Weddings
Environment--
- Garden--flowers will trigger memories about the village gossip
- Same day as Scene 1--still beautiful day
- Eventually memories transport from Garden to the Castle and Castle Grounds for weddings
- Wife--reflecting on comical "story", eye to detail, honored
- All Sisters--joking, playful, dreamy, hungry
- 1st Sister--(oldest)--leader and turns jealous and resentful
- 2nd Sister--(middle)--follows the oldest Sister but likes the 3rd Sister's answer best
- 3rd Sister--(youngest)--has bigger vision and spoiled
- Explains vengeance of two older Sisters towards the youngest (leads to babies switched)
- Emphasize indifference of the King
Enter Pregnant 3rd Sister
Exit 1st Baby Boy
Environment--
- Castle and Castle Grounds with buzz by subjects of 1st born and turns to gasp/silence as discover the dog
- 10 months later
- Midwife Room
- River
- 3rd Sister (pregnant)--loud, in pain, sleep deprived
- 1st Sister (leader of scheme)--even more jealous, conniving, vengeful, grumpy
- 2nd Sister (follower of scheme)--same as 1st Sister except nervous, worried to get caught
- King--unconcerned, indifferent
- 1st Baby Boy--quiet otherwise people would not believe the dog was born in its place
- Strange reactions for Queen and King of baby "dog", though Queen feels like something is missing later on
- Baby will arrive to the Wife and Husband so the audience will know to whom the Baby belongs
Enter Wife and Husband
Exit Wife with 1st Baby Boy into Home
Environment--
- Outside at Garden near River
- Beautiful day
- Wife--grieving, longing, despair, hopeless (another 10 months childless), then turns to surprise, curious, joy, tenderness, love, celebration, praising, thankful, wonder
- Husband--happy, confused, worries more of where Baby comes from, otherwise same as the Wife
- 1st Baby Boy--loved, content, though ill from being tossed on the water, tired when hears lullaby until completely asleep
- 1st Baby Boy has Home
Enter Pregnant 3rd Sister
Exit 2nd Baby Boy
Environment--
- Castle and Castle Grounds with buzz by subjects of 2nd born and turns to quieter than 1st gasp as discover the cat as starting to get used to the idea
- 10 months later
- Midwife Room
- River
- 3rd Sister--(pregnant)--loud, in pain, sleep deprived
- 1st Sister--(leader of scheme)--even more jealous, conniving, vengeful, grumpy
- 2nd Sister--(follower of scheme)--same as 1st Sister except nervous, worried to get caught
- King--unconcerned, indifferent
- 2nd Baby Boy--quiet (otherwise people wouldn't believe the cat was born)
- Strange reactions for Queen and King of baby "cat", though Queen feels like something is missing later on
- Baby will arrive to the Wife and Husband so the audience will know to whom the Baby belongs
Enter Wife and Husband
Exit Wife with 2nd Baby Boy into Home
Environment--
- Outside at Garden near River
- Beautiful day
- Wife--happy yet grieving and longing for another child, as if someone is missing, baby needs a playmate, then turns to surprise, curious, joy, tenderness, love, celebration, praising, thankful, no longer wonders where baby came from--it is a blessing
- Husband--happy, confused, worries even more of where Baby comes from, otherwise same as the Wife
- 2nd Baby Boy--loved, content, though ill from being tossed on the water, tired when hears lullaby until completely asleep
- 2nd Baby Boy has Home
Enter Pregnant 3rd Sister
Exit Baby Girl
Environment--
- Castle and Castle Grounds with buzz by subjects of 2nd born and turns to rolling of eyes and is "same-o-same-o" as discover the stick
- 10 months later
- Midwife Room
- River
- 3rd Sister--(pregnant)--loud, in pain, sleep deprived
- 1st Sister--(leader of scheme)--even more jealous, conniving, vengeful, grumpy
- 2nd Sister--(follower of scheme)--same as 1st Sister except nervous, worried to get caught
- King--unconcerned, indifferent, almost amused
- Baby Girl--quiet (otherwise people wouldn't believe the stick was born)
- Strange reactions for Queen and King of baby "stick", though Queen feels like something is missing later on
- Baby Girl will arrive to the Wife and Husband and so the audience will know to whom the Baby belongs
Enter Wife and Husband
Exit Wife with Baby Girl into Home
Environment--
- Outside at Garden near River
- Beautiful day
- Wife--happy yet grieving and longing for another child, as if someone is missing, then turns to surprise, curious, joy, tenderness, love, celebration, praising, thankful, no longer wonders where baby came from--it is a blessing
- Husband--happy, confused, worries even more of where Baby comes from, otherwise same as the Wife
- Baby Girl--loved, content, though ill from being tossed on the water, tired when hears lullaby until completely asleep
- Baby Girl has Home
Enter Queen into Garden
Exit Queen to Castle and Wife/Boy to Home
Environment--
- Garden
- Beautiful day
- Queen--empty, lonely, silent--much like the grieving/pleading song of the Wife (something is missing and stirs inside when she sees the Boy, but she mistakes it and asks for three things for the Garden)
- 1st Boy--afraid at first when sees the Queen (royalty), then calms when Wife comes
- Wife--senses that she just met the birth mother, though does not voice it
- Quest is given for the 1st Boy, which will soon go to all the Children
Enter 1st Boy into World for Quest and Hermit
Exit 1st Boy as transformed being
Environment--
- Jungles
- Mule for transportation
- 1st Boy--honored to go on quest, surprised by Hermit, saddened by insults, never knew his real mother, conflicted because he loves Wife as mother, grieved so Insulting Voice overcomes him
- Hermit--senses insecurity, gives warning
- Bird/Tree/Water--quiet
- Wife--worried as sees glass of water turns half blood
- 1st Boy fails Quest and 2nd Boy must go
Enter 2nd Boy into World for Quest and Hermit
Exit 2nd Boy as transformed being
Environment--
- Jungles
- Mule for transportation
- 2nd Boy--honored like his brother to go on quest, though wonders why he always has to be 2nd, surprised by Hermit, frustrated and angry by the insults and shouts back (insults bird, tree, water, and voice), Insulting Voice overcomes him
- Hermit--senses anger, gives warning
- Bird/Tree/Water--quiet
- Wife--worried as sees glass of water turns all blood
- 2nd Boy fails Quest and Girl must go
Enter Girl into World for Quest and Hermit
Exit Hermit
Environment--
- Jungles
- Mule for transportation
- Girl--humbled to go and find brothers and fulfill Quest
- Hermit--senses quiet confidence, encourages it, kinder to the Girl, knows she will succeed
- Bird--shouts "Hail the Hero comes forth"
- Tree-dancing
- Water--jumping and leaping
- 1st and 2nd Boys--revived through Girl's breath from crystal balls to humans again, relieved, ashamed (given names Bama'n and Pa'rvis)
- Quest fulfilled through Girl
- Boys are revived
- Able to return and present items to Queen
Enter Queen, King, and Two Sisters to Wife/Husband's Home
Exit Two Sisters for punishment
Environment--
- Garden
- Inside Home
- Beautiful day
- Queen--senses there is something more to this meeting
- King--impressed by the pearls in the squash, money talks more to him
- 1st Sister--surprised that the King and Queen did not figure out the baby switch before
- 2nd Sister--regrets following the 1st Sister than the 3rd Sister, knows with that decision comes the consequences
- Wife--senses there is something more to this meeting
- Husband--nervous to be host for the King
- 1st Boy--insecurity melts when knows he is of noble blood
- 2nd Boy--temper melts when knows who he is and must act with dignity
- Girl--same as she ever was as had strength from Wife (the one who raised her)
- Bird--wants justice for the Two Sisters and blessings to come on the family of the Wife
- Scheme of Two Sisters discovered
- Queen (birth mother) reunited with Children
- Wife/Husband/Children invited to live in Castle
- Mother who brought them into the world together with Mother who taught them how to live in the world
Enter Wife as Grandma
Exit with Grandchildren and Lullaby
Environment--
- Within Castle
- Goes for walks with Grandchildren to the Garden
- Wife/Grandma--content, sings lullaby for Grandchildren
- Grandchildren--beaming with their Grandmother
- Mother who once had no Children now has many
Until we tell again,
Rachel Hedman
Professional Storyteller
Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)
How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com
Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.comOther places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller
