Goldilocks and the Three Life Lessons

CHARACTER LIST

DRUG ABUSE, a large black bear, male

MENTAL ILL HEALTH, a medium sized black bear, female

SELF WORTH, a baby black bear, female

GOLDILOCKS HAMMOND, nicknamed ‘Gold’, blonde hair/brown eyes, female, 17 years of age

ACT ONE

SCENE 1

A white wooden cottage surrounded by luscious green grass and yellow daisies. Smoke can be seen drifting from the chimney. A wisteria plant covers one side of the home, the purple flowers in full bloom. Behind the house, a thick green forest. Bird song can be heard in the distance.

SCENE 2

Inside the house: a dining table stage left with three chairs on the opposite side of the table, facing the audience. The chairs are different sizes: one big, one medium and one little. Three bowls also of varying size are on the table, the big bowl in front of the big chair and so on. Steam rises from each bowl, but the food is unidentifiable. On stage right is a simple kitchen with a sink and cupboards. A window may be included with vision of the grass and flowers outside. The room is empty at first. Drug Abuse walks into the scene from stage right through the kitchen and over to the dining table.

DRUG ABUSE (sits at the big chair) I’m so excited for this!

MENTAL ILL HEALTH (walks in from stage right holding hands with SELF WORTH) I’m not sure if she’s ready. It just came off the stove and might be too hot to eat just yet.

SELF WORTH Too hot! Too hot!

DRUG ABUSE (stands up from chair) Why don’t we go for a walk then? Wait for it to cool down?

MENTAL ILL HEALTH (winces) Hmm.

SELF WORTH Yes! Fresh air and flowers!

MENTAL ILL HEALTH I don’t really feel like walking I would rather just stay home and wait.

DRUG ABUSE C’mon it will be fun. Trust me.

MENTAL ILL HEALTH Okay…fine.

The three bears exit the scene stage left. A pause after they exit before Gold enters stage left. She is wearing a white summery dress with embroidered red roses across the hem.

She steps into the house and closes the door behind her. A pause of hesitance before Gold walks across to the dining table and climbs onto largest chair (Drug Abuse’s chair).

GOLD (picks up big spoon) Mmm, this looks good!

She plunges the spoon into Drug Abuse’s bowl and helps herself to a heaped spoonful of the steaming food.

New E-mail – Draft Saved [click to SEND.]

To: [email protected]

Cc:

Subject: hiiiiii

hey amber,

i hope you’re going well. i really miss you!

i’m going to a party this weekend and i’m super excited :)

some of my friends from school talked about taking party drugs while we’re there… i don’t know if i should join in with them or not. oh, how i wish we were at the same school! then we could decide together.

either way it should be fun to socialise and dance all night!!

i’m so excited for this!

talk soon,

lots of love from gold xx

New E-mail – Draft Saved [click to SEND.]

To: [email protected]

Cc:

Subject: update…!

hi amber!

the party was really fun, i met some new people and danced ALL night!

i ended up trying something with my friends… it was actually really good fun.

(i hope you aren’t disappointed in me!) they called it ‘X’ so i might refer to it as that so i’m not typing you the actual drug here (just in case)

how’s everything going with you?

love from gold xx

p.s. it’s raining right now! is it raining where you are too??

New E-mail – Draft Saved [click to SEND.]

To: [email protected]

Cc:

Subject: omg

hey amber,

that sucks, i hope your parents are okay :/

at least netball is going well – i should be able to come to your grand final next week. how exciting!

i’m going out to a party tonight so i am quickly emailing you before i head off so sorry for the short message! probably gonna be up til sunrise off the X so i might send you another email tomorrow :)

lots of love, gold xx

New E-mail – Draft Saved [click to SEND.]

To: [email protected]

Cc:

Subject: hello

hi amber,

i would love to hang out on friday, but i have a birthday thing for one of my school friends.

i can ask if i can +1 you? but if you’re not into trying things (if you know what i mean haha) then i don’t know if you will enjoy yourself!

love from gold xx

New E-mail – Draft Saved [click to SEND.]

To: [email protected]

Cc:

Subject: sorry

hey,

i won’t be able to make it to your netball grand final, some friends invited me out…

hope this is all good.

from gold x

New E-mail – Draft Saved [click to SEND.]

To: [email protected]

Cc:

Subject: i fucked up

hi amber, i’m sorry i fucked up i’m in the hospital… i made a mistake. i texted you.

i accidentally took too ma–

CONT. SCENE 2

GOLD (gasping) Oh! That is so hot!

Gold swallows the food, clearly in pain from the heat.

GOLD (shaking her head) Nope, not good at all.

She drops the spoon into the bowl and climbs across to the middle-sized chair. She gets settled before picking up Mental Ill Health’s spoon and scoops up the food from the medium-sized bowl. The food in this bowl is not steaming, but Gold still blows on the spoon (in attempt to cool down the food in case the lack of steam is just an illusion).

GOLD Let’s see if this is better.

She puts the spoon into her mouth.

Pins and Needles

– A sonic spoken word poem for performance

By Goldilocks Hammond

At first it was a feeling of pins and needles,

In the heart of my emotions,

A slight twinging in my stomach

When a nerve-racking situation approaches

The butterflies are set off

Their soft orange wings stroking my mucosa,

A normal anxious feeling

As a nerve-racking situation comes closer

A presentation in front of my English class

Twenty-nine sets of eyes on me,

Rummaging through my bag flames of fear burn my hands

When I can’t find my key

(speed up speech in this stanza - )

Being asked to contribute an answer in class

Thinking I missed my morning bus

Dropping my phone and hearing the crack of glass

Wondering if I am the reason I hear them laugh…

(pause)

Pins and needles in the heart of my emotions

Turns into a knife lodged in my chest

The sweet butterflies of nerves

Become flesh eating moths that won’t let me rest

Insomnia fills my dreams

So I guess I’m not really dreaming at all,

I begin to realise that everyone must know

The reason I ended up in hospital

The burning pins and needles or the knife in my chest

Impacts my thoughts and my ability to focus

Things I used to do with ease

No longer comes easy to me

Eating in public

Walking alone in a busy street

When I talk, people can see my teeth…

Best not talk anymore–

CONT. SCENE 2

GOLD (shivers) That’s far too cold.

She puts down the spoon with the handle resting on the edge of the medium-sized bowl. Gold climbs over to the smallest chair. She gets comfortable, tucks her hair behind her ears and sighs.

GOLD Hopefully this one will actually be edible!

Gold picks up the small spoon and helps herself to a spoonful of the contents in Self Worth’s bowl. A pause before she puts the food into her mouth.

GOLD Third time lucky, I hope!

Draft 3

“Cherry sunlight”

(Gentle guitar strumming…)

[Verse 1]

Yeah, I thought it might be fun just to try it

Socialising on a drug-only diet

I pushed all of my feelings down the gutter

‘Til the pills were all that made my heart flutter

I lost my closest friends, I can’t deny that

I lost a part of me too, I can’t fight that

And as I lost my way,

Desolation came into play

My bedroom was the only place

I felt at home

I felt safe

[Chorus]

Now things have changed

My own skin is where I feel safe

Tangerine Cherry sunlight of dawn warms my heart

Wasn’t the drugs or the sadness, but myself I forgave

[Verse 2]

My future self is looking back at me through memories

I hope she’s proud of what I have achieved

I can feel my excitement bursting at the seams

Blue iris and white clouds fill my dreams

The thunder clouds were once grey

Now I have found my way

[Chorus]

[Bridge]

It’s not over yet

I have to keep paving this road

Of self-worth, self-love

And passionate hope

[Chorus]

CONT. SCENE 2

Gold finishes all of Self Worth’s bowl of breakfast. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and jumps off the chair. She walks through the kitchen stage right and disappears off stage.

SCENE 3

A bedroom: a white door stage left, butter yellow wallpaper, fluffy white carpet and three beds. The largest bed closest to the door stage left, the medium-sized bed centre stage and the smallest bed stage right. The door, stage left, creaks open and Gold steps into the room.

GOLD (yawns and stretches her arms upwards) I am so tired!

She stumbles over and climbs into the biggest bed (Drug Abuse’s bed).

To Do List:

-help mum with the food shopping

-pay my phone bill

-finish off maths homework (exercise 8, questions 1-10)

-transfer money to Leo for X

CONT. SCENE 3

Gold sits up.

GOLD This bed is too hard!

She climbs across to the middle bed (Mental Ill Health’s bed) and lies down.

-transfer money to Leo for X

-tell my friends I’m going to stay sober at the party on Friday

-go for a run

-contact the basketball club about joining a team

-email ATAR PE teacher about doing the in-class presentation just for him out of school hours instead of in front of the class next week

CONT. SCENE 3

Gold rolls around for a moment, but she sinks into the bed. She visibly struggles to sit up for a moment before looking around.

GOLD (confused look on her face) This bed is way too soft!

She climbs across to the final and smallest bed in the room (Self Worth’s bed). Gold curls under the sheets of this bed.

-email ATAR PE teacher about doing the in-class presentation just for him out of school hours instead of in class next week

-research how to calm/control nerves

-get in contact with the psychologist Mum suggested I speak to

-take up painting again

SCENE 4

Dining room/kitchen scene (same setting as scene 2). The three bears arrive home and enter the door from stage left.

DRUG ABUSE (happily) What a lovely walk!

MENTAL ILL HEALTH Hopefully breakfast has cooled down enough to eat now.

SELF WORTH (in a squeaky baby voice) Yay! Yay!

Each bear sits in their respective chairs.

DRUG ABUSE (angrily after noticing his spoon has been used) Someone has been eating my food! There is a spoonful missing from my bowl!

MENTAL ILL HEALTH (gasps) Oh no! Someone has been eating my food! There’s a spoonful missing from my bowl too!

SELF WORTH (tearing up looking into her bowl) Someone has been eating my food, and they finished the whole thing!

Drug Abuse and Mental Ill Health both lean over and peer into Self Worth’s bowl.

“Let’s go upstairs to our bedroom,” says Mental Ill Health.

“How come?” squeaks Self Worth.

“I would like to rest after that walk,” sighs Mental Ill Health. She stands up and brushes her paws down her chest, her dark mahogany fur glistening with a tinge of orange. Drug Abuse stands up too.

“Maybe we can put on some more food and have a rest upstairs while it cooks?”

“Sounds good to me,” says Mental Ill Health. She walks over to the black and white tiled kitchen on all fours before standing up on her hind legs once more. Mental Ill Health picks up the saucepan from its perch on the stove and places it in the sink. She fills it up with hot water to soak before opening the hovering cupboards above and pulling out a bag of oats and a fresh clean saucepan.

Drug Abuse walks around to Self Worth’s side of the dining table where she is still peering into her ceramic bowl, as if hoping her breakfast would reappear before her eyes. The large bear leans down and holds Self Worth’s paws as she jumps down from her chair. Mental Ill Health stirs the saucepan, steam spilling over the brim and splashing onto the kitchen floor like paint. Drug Abuse and Self Worth walk together from the dining room, behind Mental Ill Health and to the staircase across the kitchen. They disappear upstairs as Mental Ill Health turns the heat of the stove down low. She then follows them up.

The staircase is carpeted, and the same lilac fluffy carpet continues on the floor of the bedroom like the fallen flowers of a jacaranda tree. There are three different sized beds across the room, the biggest bed closest to the door way as the three bears enter into the room. The duvet and blankets of the queen-sized bed are draped unevenly across the mattress.

“Someone has been sleeping in my bed!” Drug Abuse shouts.

I once felt like I had to fit in, and I had to do the same things my friends at school did to fit in. I think this felt especially important as I recently moved schools and was away from my old friends like Amber. I regret the way I treated her and the person I became when I thought I had to be the same as everyone else. Why would anyone want to be the same as everyone else? Cut from the same stencil, picked from the same garden, painted with the same brush? Despite how much it is spoken about, not everyone really puts effort into being their own person, yet this is an essential aspect of experiencing life. How are you to ever to attract your desires into your world living in someone else’s? My world was feeling dreary after I listened to the wrong people. Those new school friends aren’t bad people. They just view party drugs as an escape from reality rather than an occasional activity for leisure. It was me who decided to listen to them. I disappointed my friends and scared my family but now I am on a path of renewal.

Drug Abuse suddenly calms down. He sighs deeply and smiles. “But she’s not there anymore.”

The middle bed is a king single, the duvet has a beautiful hand stitched hummingbird across it. The green wings sparkle gold in the sunlight that streams in from the high window of the bedroom. The hummingbird is folded strangely, the duvet has been yanked.

“Someone has been sleeping in my bed!” Mental Ill Health gasps.

Overthinking has never helped anyone, but it is hard to be rid of a thought once it has planted its seed inside your brain. I could feel the plant growing, at first a miniscule thought at the back of mind that uncurled its leaves like a cat stretching after a long day nap. The vine, an unwanted weed – poison ivy – grew and twisted around my neurons and invaded my thoughts. The roots crawled down my spine and overtook my emotions. I was riddled with a virus that was not contagious, but everyone could see. They could see the mist in my eyes that blocked my vision and I could no longer see beauty. They could see how easily scared I was, always on the edge of my seat unable to feel radiating peace or joy. The ivy dismantled me unlike the ‘escaping reality’ with my new friends ever could. But enough is enough and I realised I either had to attempt to drown the pain while drowning myself or slice the stem. The unruly vine began to die after feeling the gentle touch of my dagger. Although the leaves have turned brown and the roots have begun to evaporate back into the sky, some of the ivy still lurks within me so everyday is a fight and that is okay because each day it is easier because now, I am on a path of renewal.

Mental Ill Health suddenly relaxes, just as Drug Abuse did. “But she’s not there anymore.”

The smallest bed is a children’s single bed in a red race car shaped bed frame. The matching red duvet is wrapped around her body which rises and falls with her every breath. Her golden blonde hair shimmers in the cascading sunlight. Self Worth smiles, widening until she is grinning from cheek to cheek.

“Yes! Yes!”

Self Worth bounces on her hind legs.

“Someone has been sleeping in my bed and she’s still there!”

Mental Ill Health exchanges a look with Drug Abuse, “Safe and sound…”