James and the Giant Peach Page #6

Aunt Sponge:
Or neck maybe?

Aunt Spiker:
Just wait until I get my hands on him! He’ll never want to stay

out all night again by the time I’ve finished with him. – Did you see

something move?

Narrator #2:
Just then, both women turned around to look. The movement of

course was the Giant Peach, dropping from the tree and rolling across the

garden, gathering speed as it went.

(Both AUNTS turn to face each other and scream. They begin running but, of

course crash into each other.)

Aunt Spiker:
The money! Give it all to me, I’ll protect it!

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Aunt Sponge:
Oh no you won’t, you greedy crank!

(They begin cat fighting. AUNT SPONGE grabs all the money from AUNT

SPIKER’s pocket, but some falls. SHE bends to pick it up and falls flat on her

face. SPIKER laughs cruelly, then tries to grab the money, and falls on top of

SPONGE.

Suddenly everyone in the Giant Peach jumps at the same time, and both

AUNTS roll off each other screaming and lay flat on the ground like a

pancake.)

Grasshopper:
What was that awful bump?

Centipede:
We ran something over.

(Back to frozen.)

Narrator #1:
And quite right they were. Those two horrible aunts were

squashed as flat as a pancake.

Narrator #2:
Seeing the Giant Peach roll over those two disgusting women,

the crowds screamed and ran away, out of the path of destruction.

Narrator #1:
And what a path it was.

Narrator #2:
they flattened a telegraph pole.

Narrator #1:
Two parked automobiles.

Narrator #2:
They rushed madly across twenty fields.

Narrator #1:
Right through the middle of a herd of jersey cows.

(The sound effect of a mooing cow is heard.)

Narrator #2:
Through the village.

Narrator #1:
The peach rushed across the countryside, on and on it went

leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

Narrator #2:
Would it ever stop?

Narrator #1:
There’s only one thing to stop it.

Narrator #1 and #2: The ocean!

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Narrator #2:
The peach was now only one hundred yards away from the edge

of a cliff.

Narrator #1:
Now fifty!

Narrator #2:
Twenty!

Narrator #1:
Ten!

Narrator #1:
Five!

Narrator #2:
Down! Down! Down!

Narrator #1:
Until SMACK! It hit the water with a colossal splash!

(The WATER CHORUS comes out with long sheets of blue. They stand on the

gym floor, on either side of the stage, and wave the water about. There is near

darkness inside the Giant Peach.)

Centipede:
Let us have some light!

All insects:
Yes! Light! Give us some light!

Glowworm:
I’m trying!

James:
Who said that?

Glowworm:
Me.

James:
Well, yes…but…who is “me”?

Centipede:
We need light!

(A faint greenish light begins to glimmer from the Glowworm’s tail. The stage

lights come up, as if the Glowworm’s light is enough to light the interior of the

Giant Peach.)

James:
Well hello there! I didn’t see you earlier.

Grasshopper:
Glowworm here is our interior light, she quite shy but without

her, we would be in pitch black all day long.

James:
I’m sorry I never noticed her until now.

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Grasshopper:
She likes to sleep most of the day, with her light on of course.

When we got knocked about, I’m afraid her light must have gone out.

James:
Was Gloworm injured?

Grasshopper:
No, only embarrassed that she put us into darkness.

Spider:
Nothing of it.

Ladybug:
Only a bit of darkness.

Worm:
I never noticed any difference at all!

Centipede:
Well you wouldn’t would you?

Earthworm:
Don’t start Centipede! That journey took years off my life, and

I’m quite fragile right now.

Grasshopper:
But my dear friends, we are finally there!

Ladybug:
Where?

Spider:
Yes, where is…there?

Grasshopper:
I don’t know. But I bet it’s somewhere good.

Earthworm:
We are probably at the bottom of a coal mine, stuck forever.

Grasshopper:
Perhaps we’re in the middle of a beautiful country full of songs

and music!

James:
Or near the seashore with lots of other children down on the sand for

me to play with.

Ladybug:
Pardon me, but am I wrong in thinking that we seem to be bobbing

up and down?

Spider:
Bobbing up and down?

Grasshopper:
What on earth do you mean?

Centipede:
You’re still giddy from the journey. Ladybugs are known for going

quite crazy you know.

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James:
Perhaps the best thing to do, would be to go outside and take a look?

All insects:
Yes!

Centipede:
I refuse to show myself out of doors in my bare feet. I have to get

all my shoes on first. James?

Earthworm:
For heaven’s sake! Let’s not go through all that nonsense again!

Ladybug:
Let’s all lend the Centipede a hand and get it over with.

Narrator #2:
So they did, all except Miss Spider who set about weaving a long

rope-ladder that would reach from the floor up to a hole in the ceiling.

Narrator #2:
I bet the old green Grasshopper was wise enough to make sure

they didn’t risk going out of the side entrance, when they didn’t know where

they were.

Narrator #1:
Right you are. So half an hour later, when the rope ladder had

been finished and hung-

Narrator #2:
-and the forty-second shoe had been done up-

Narrator #2:
The whole company climbed up the ladder one by one. Then

suddenly there they were out in the open, standing on the very top of the

peach, near the stem, blinking their eyes in the strong sunlight.

Spider:
What happened?

Earthworm:
Where are we?

Grasshopper:
But this is impossible!

James:
Unbelievable! We’re in the middle of the sea!

Ladybug:
I told you we were bobbing up and down.

Grasshopper:
Ladies and gentlemen, I am afraid we find ourselves in a rather

awkward situation.

Earthworm:
Awkward! My dear Grasshopper, we are finished! Every one of

us will perish. I may be blind, but I tell a catastrophe when I see one!

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Centipede:
Off with my shoes! I cannot swim with shoes on!

Ladybug:
I can’t swim at all!

Spider:
Nor can I! None of us can swim a single stroke!

James:
But you won’t have to swim. We are floating beautifully. And sooner

or later a ship is bound to pick us up.

Ladybug:
Are you quite sure that we’re not sinking?

James:
Of course I’m sure!

((GRASSHOPPER peers over the side of the Giant Peach into the waves

below.)

Grasshopper:
The boy is quite right! We’re floating very well indeed. Now

we must all stay perfectly calm. Everything will be all right in the end.

Earthworm:
What absolute nonsense!

Ladybug:
(To James) Poor Earthworm. He loves to make everything into a

disaster. He hates to be happy. He is only happy when he is gloomy.

Earthworm:
If this peach is not going to sink, and if we are not going to be

drowned, then every one of us is going to starve instead.

James:
But good heavens, you must be blind!

Earthworm:
You know very well I have no vision. There is no need to rub it

in.

James:
I apologize, it’s an expression is all. But can’t you see that-

Earthworm:
SEE! How can I see if I have no vision!

James:
I didn’t mean it that way, I’m quite sorry. What I mean is, don’t you

realize that we have enough food here to last us for weeks and weeks.

All insects:
Of course! The Peach!

Grasshopper:
Our whole ship is made of food! James, I don’t know what we

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