THE PIED PIPER
OUR PANTO FOR THE MILLENIUM
Ideal for production this season - or indeed for the real millenium next year!
Adapted from Corel clip-art
CAST LIST:
| The Pied Piper | Chequered clothes and a chequered history too! | |
| Tom Piper | His son. Denies ever stealing a pig! | |
| The Widow Gates | The Dame. She runs the school. | |
| Will Gates | Her son. A bit of an anorak. | |
| Mayor Dibble | Well intentioned, but bumbling. | |
| Charlie Dibble | His daughter. Beautiful and green-fingered. | |
| Councillor Pushcart | The treasurer, a greedy villain. | |
| Councillor Nostradamus | Claims that he can forsee the future. | |
| Barney | One of Pushcart's enforcers. | |
| Mo | The other enforcer. | |
| Darth Dreadbug | The big Millenium bug. | |
| The Little Bugs | His mischievous minions. | |
| The Villagers | All suffering from bug problems. | |
| The Schoolchildren | All suffering from education. |
SYNOPSIS
Mayor Dibble is weak, indecisive and stony broke. He is advised by Councillor Nostradamus, whose vision of the future is almost as unreliable as his understanding of the present! The Mayor leaves most of the decisions to his deputy, the villainous Councillor Pushcart, who is making himself rich by cheating the council at every turn.
The Council own the Dame's school. Pushcart wants the tumbledown school closed to further his money-making ambitions, but the Dame can't be budged.
Dame Gates has a son called Will. She loves him dearly but doesn't understand his pre-occupation with computers. Will is secretly in love with the Mayor's beautiful daughter Charlie, who is kind, generous and green-fingered.
Barny and Mo are the council's enforcers. They are sent to spy on the Dame and end up in the classroom disguised as new boys. Later on they double as an INSTED school inspection team but are foiled by Charlie and Will.
Darth Dreadbug's army of little bugs are creating mayhem all over the village. They cause electrical equipment to fail in hilarious ways. The desperate townsfolk tell the Mayor that they won't put up with the infestation a moment longer and the council are forced to act. They advertise in the local paper.
The Pied Piper and his son Tom are employed to get rid of the bugs. (Millenium bugs 'cos there are thousands of them!) The Piper fights a hand to hand battle with Darth Dreadbug and Tom leads the little bugs away to a cavern in the mountains. Our heroes are cheated by Pushcart and the Piper spirits the children away in revenge.
Charlie and Will weren't able to follow the Piper, but Tom thinks he knows which way he went. He goes to ask his Dad to give the council one more chance and Charlie and Will go to the Mayor and tell him about Pushcart's treachery. The Mayor finally stands up to his deputy and the Piper gets his reward when the money Pushcart has embezzled is taken from him.
The Mayor gives Will the job of Council Treasurer and then gives him Charlie's hand. He and the Dame reveal their affection for each other and they are quickly engaged.
Everyone lives happily ever after.