Shadow and Hand Puppets

The excerpt below is taken from the full script of the No Strings tsunami project for Sri Lanka.

The show we field-tested in Sri Lanka in 2006 formed a unique interactive experience, in which a shadow puppet film was projected onto a huge screen, with the two main characters shooting up to the top of the screen at intervals and turning into two actual hand puppets. Having popped up from behind the action to sit above the screen and interact with a Storyteller, a Sri Lankan actor who talks to the children and puppets throughout, they seemed to be diving in and out of the shadow-puppet performance itself.

Laloo is a cormorant who comes to the aid of a young, orphaned sea turtle, Tala. His little sister Nila has stayed in her shell since the tsunami struck, refusing all food, and Tala is worried about her. Together, they decide that the best way to help her get over her trauma is to find out exactly why it happened, and how they can ensure that they and their friends are safe should it happen again.

During their journey, they come across various animal characters who supply different pieces of information about the tsunami, until they finally meet the Great Grandfather Whale, the oldest and wisest creature in the sea. The whale will take them to the edge of the tectonic plate near Sumatra, and show them the vast rift where one plate slid under the other, displacing the massive amount of water that caused the terrible waves.

Um, excuse us, Madame Octopus, we are here to find out about the tsunami.  Can you help us?

MADAME OCTOPUS
Oh, the tsunami.  Very bad…very bad!  I can tell you this, just before the first wave hit all the water suddenly left the shore.  I was left in a little puddle barely big enough to hold me.  It was about ten minutes after that that the wave came.  So my advice to you little turtle is if the water suddenly leaves the shore, run away.

SCHOOL OF FISH
Run away!
Run away!

MADAME OCTOPUS
And land creatures like yourself should run away from the water and up a hill to higher ground.

SCHOOL OF FISH
Run away and up a hill.
Run away and up a hill.

TALA
We need to remember that.

LALOO
Right!

LALOO SWIMS UP AS THE SCREEN FADES. HE APPEARS ABOVE THE SCREEN, NEXT TO THE STORYTELLER.

STORY TELLER
Alright, what does Tala need us to remember?

IF A CHILD ANSWERS WE WILL FOLLOW THE CHILD'S LEAD AND PROMPT HIM OR HER.  IF NOT, LALOO WILL ANSWER.

LALOO
Remember, if all the water suddenly leaves the shore a tsunami might be coming.

THE STORYTELLER HOLDS UP A CARD WITH THE NEXT DIAGRAM.  IT SHOWS A PICTURE OF THE WATER LEAVING THE SHORE.

STORYTELLER
If you see that happen, what should you do?

IF A CHILD DOES NOT ANSWER, LOALOO DOES.

LALOO OR CHILD
Run away from the water and up to higher ground

STORYTELLER
Good.

HE GLANCES AT LALOO.

LALOO
Oh.

LALOO DIVES DOWN AS THE STORYTELLER WAVES HIS HAND AND THE SCREEN FADES UP ON THE PREVIOUS SCENE.  BY THIS TIME THE SCHOOL OF FISH IS SWIMMING AROUND IN A MOST UNSCHOOOL- LIKE FASHON…. ALL IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS AND AT DIFFERENT TIMES.

MADAME OCTOPUS
Fishes, fishes, no, no, no… Where's your school?  Together!  Together!  One, two, three, four, turn, two, three, four… Together!

TALA
Madame Octopus…Madame Octopus, can you tell us what caused the tsunami and where it came from?


MADAME OCTOPUS  (very harried)
I'm sorry I don't know the answer to that.  The only one in the entire ocean with enough knowledge to tell you that is Great Grandfather Whale, the oldest and wisest creature in the sea.

TALA
Where can we find him?