RATS' TALES
A delightful adaptation by Christine Battison of the children’s classic “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”, complete with five original songs (words and music supplied).
PLOT RESUME
The citizens of Hamelin are plagued by rats, and when the Pied Piper offers to get rid of them, they readily accept his offer. The rats are duly dispatched, but when the Mayor and Corporation refuse to pay him his fee, he takes the children away with him to the Koppelberg Mountains. But, there is a twist in the tale ...
ISBN 1 904930 75 1
CAST MULTIPLE
The Pied Piper Age, late teens to thirties, can be played by a male or female actor. The character is charismatic, but whether elf or human is difficult to say. H/she has a tough streak and is no soft touch. Must play or appear to play a wooden flute/whistle. The actor playing this part must have a good singing voice and stage presence.
Beric, boy aged 11 to 14 (singer/dancer).
Lisel, girl aged as above (singer/dancer)
Elfwin, girl aged as above, she walks with a limp.
Wilfrid & Walter, ratcatchers. 2 men, any age. These are inept but likeable characters.
Speck, Brot and Flicker, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker
The Mayor
Corporation 1-5
Albera, tree spirit
Town Children/Rats
Townsfolk
The action of the play takes place in and around the West Saxony Town of Hamelin in the year 1284.
DURATION - approx. 1 hour 30 minutes
Script Sample - The Ratcatchers
Enter the Ratcatchers to their theme music as if stalking something. They have various improvised rat catching equipment draped about them
The rest of the cast watch, mildly curious. The children mimic the Ratcatchers. They cross the stage and exit only to reappear almost immediately and stop at Speck's stall
Walter The trail's gone cold. Botheration!
Wilfrid (sniffs at a piece of ham) Well I can smell something 'orrible.
Speck What a cheek! What are you doing anyway?
Walter We're ratting a stalk.
Wilfrid Stalking a rat.
Walter That's what I said.
Wilfrid No you didn't.
Brot If you did your ratting properly we wouldn't be in the state we're in.
Speck That's right. Last Wednesday they ate all my sausages.
Brot Yes, and on Thursday they ate all my white loaves. They don't seem to like the rye bread.
Wilfrid (aside to Wally) No, they got too much respect for their teeth!
Flicker And would you believe it, for dessert they chewed great chunks out of three dozen of my candles.
Walter (aside to Willy) Wrong! They ain't got no respect for their teeth! (To the market traders) Anyway, we do prop ratterly, I mean rat properly, we do the very best we can and all we ever get is people moaning at us. It's not fair!
Wilfrid No it's jolly well not fair. Look at the state he's in. He can't even get his words round the right way he's so upset. It's not our fault.
Walter Don't blame us. There's 'undreds of 'em and the Mayor is so mean he won't give us the proper equipment to trap them. He's stopped our pay until we ratch a cat.
Wilfrid Catch a rat.
Walter That's what I said.
Wilfrid No you didn't.
Flicker Why don't you stop arguing and get on with your job?
The market traders and townsfolk go about their business
Wilfrid and Walter mooch downstage unhappily
The Piper approaches them
Piper Hello, sounds as if you're having a bad time. What's the problem?
Wilfrid Why do you want to know? Who are you anyway?
Piper Folks call me the Pied Piper. I travel around where the fancy takes me and earn a bit of money from playing the pipe.
Walter It's all right for some. I wish our job was as easy as that. We're the town Ratcatchers and it's the nastiest job in the whole world.
Wilfrid It wasn't always. Anyway, let's not forget our manners. I'm Wilfrid and this is Walter. Folks call us Willy and Wally amongst other things ...
Walter Which we won't go into. Pleased to meet you.
There is a scream from Speck as two rats appear, scurrying between the stalls, making faces, thumbing their noses, and stealing things
Willy and Wally rush about trying to catch them but after quite a bit of business and chase music the rats escape and the two men collapse in a heap
Into first cast number, "Rats"
Speck (to Ratcatchers) See what I mean? Rats!
Brot Rats!
Flicker And still more rats!
