2004-08-26 - 3:13 p.m.

Hello all from down under!

This is a reader's theatre script I have worked up on the classic Australian story, Possum Magic by Mem Fox.

It is performed sitting on stools and reading from the script. What do you think?

Apologies to Ms Scott if the liberties I have taken with her story offend.

Possum Magic

A Reader’s Theatre script

By Rantan

(With apologies to Mem Fox for the liberties taken with the classic tale.)

Narrator1: Once upon a time, but not very long ago deep in the Australian bush lived two possums. Their names were Hush and Grandma Poss. Grandma Poss made bush magic. She made wombats blue and kookaburras pink.

Narrator 2: She made dingoes smile and emus shrink. But the best magic of all was

Narrators 1 and 2: the magic that made Hush INVSISIBLE.

Hush: What adventures I had as kooky koalas squashed me. And as I slid down the slippery slope of the backs of cool kangaroos.

Narrator 1: Because she couldn’t be seen she was safe from snakes, which is why Grandma Poss had made her invisible in the first place.

Narrator 2: Then one day, quite unexpectedly, Hush made an unusual request of Grandma Poss.

Hush: Grandma, I want to know what I look like. Please could you make me visible again?

Grandma Poss: Of course I can. I’ll just fossick through my magic books.

Narrators 1 and 2: So she fossicked into this book and she fossicked into that. There was magic for thin and magic for fat, and magic for tall and magic for small, but the magic she was looking at wasn’t there at all. Grandma Poss was miserable.

Hush: Don’t worry, Grandma. I don’t mind.

Narrators 1 and 2: But in her heart of hearts she did.

Narrator 1: Grandma Poss thought all night long and then in the morning, just before breakfast …

Grandma Poss: (Shouting) It’s something to do with food! People food, not possum food. But I can’t remember what. We’ll just have to try and find it.

Narrator 2: So later that day, they left the bush where they’d always been to find what it was that would make Hush seen.

Grandma Poss and Hush: Let’s try Anzac Biscuits in Adelaide, mornay and Minties in Melbourne, steak and salad in Sydney and pumpkin scones in Brisbane.

Narrators 1 and 2: But Hush remained invisible.

Grandma Poss: Don’t lose heart! Let’s see what we can find in Darwin.

Narrator 1: There, in the far north of Australia, they found a Vegemite sandwich. Grandma Poss crossed her claws and crossed her feet.

Narrators 1 and 2: Hush breathed deeply and began to eat.

Grandma Poss and Hush: (Shouting) A tail. A tail.

Narrators 1 and 2: For there it was, a brand new, visible tail.

Narrator 1: Later, on a beach in Perth, they ate a piece of pavlova. Hush’s legs appeared. So did her body.

Grandma Poss: You look wonderful, you precious possum! Next stop, Tasmania.

Narrator 2: And over the sea they went. In Hobart, late one night, in the kitchens of the casino, they saw a lamington on a plate. Hush closed her eyes and nibbled.

Hush: (nibbling)

Grandma Poss: It’s worked!, It’s worked.

Narrators 1 and 2: And she was right. Hush could be seen from head to tail.

(Grandma Poss and Hush hug and they dance.)

Grandma Poss and Hush: (Singing) Here We Go Around the Lamington Plate. The Lamington Plate. The lamington plate. Here we go round the lamington plate

Narrator 1: And they danced and they danced around that lucky lamington plate till early in the morning.

Narrator 2: From that time onwards, Hush was visible. But once a year, on her birthday

Narrators 1 and 2: she and Grandma Poss ate a Vegemite Sandwich, a piece of pavlova and half a lamington, just to make sure Hush stayed visible forever.

Cast: And she did.

Author’s notes: Perhaps Hush could hide under a blanket and reveal the parts of her body are exposed and perhaps props could be used for the foodstuffs.

The actors could wear body boards showing motifs of the cities/states visited or they could be displayed on flashcards. Grandma Poss could wear glasses, perched on the end of her nose as in the illustrations by Julie Vivas.

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