The Bubble-gum Tree.

Cast-size: 32, spread across yrs 7-13, some yr 13s required to play young adult.

21 girls, 11 boys

Run-time roughly 1 hour 45 + Interval.

The cast splits into East Germans (‘Ossis’) and West Germans (‘Wessis’),  with room for extra non-speaking dancers.
Ossis: 
They split into:

1: An East German Dance company:
 Generally older casting, performing lots of dance, so must be fit and physically competent, as well as good actors. They perform excerpts from a ‘modernist’ (for the 70s) interpretation of The Little Mermaid (these parts are in brackets). Of them, those playing Sven, Katja, Marta and Julia should be the best dancers, as they have solo moments. I used years 11, 12 and 13 for this group.

Character                                             Lines        Playing age                      Description
Comrade Petra Freidel (choreographer)

Katja (‘The Little Mermaid’)

Sven (‘the Prince’)

Markus (‘the Prince’s Companion’)

Julia (‘the Princess’)

Karolin (‘the Sea Witch’)

Marta (‘Daughter of the Air’)

Florian (‘the King’)


Jurgen (senior dancer)

Monika (senior dancer)

Claudia (senior dancer)

Ulrike (junior dancer)

Thomas (junior dancer)

Lena (senior dancer), older sister to Inga
***


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*

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*

*



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*

*

*

*

***
Early-mid 20s


Late teens

Late teens

Late teens

Late teens

Late teens

Late teens

Late teens/early 20s


Early 20s

Late teens/early 20s

Late teens/early 20s

Mid-late teens

Mid-late teens

Early 20s
Seemingly harsh, humourless, perfectionist, boy-friend of Stasi officer 1


Pretty, but she knows it, one of the best dancers

Good looking, shy, talented junior dancer

Joker, arrogant, lascivious, big personality

Pretty, shy, good dancer

Thoughtful, responsible

Dancer only

The other half of a seeming double-act with  Markus, if anything more madcap, eccentric

Brooding, cautious, irritable

Worldly but sunny

No nonsense, cynical

Shy, sweet-natured

Shy, good-humoured

The ‘best dancer’, but overlooked (therefore no solo dancing), bitter, resigned, unwilling carer for Inga. Strong actor required.
2: Pioneers: (Equivalent of Girl Guides, only politicised)
Leader (Comrade Hempel)

Inga (Lena’s younger sister)



Rosa (Inga’s friend)

Sabine

Lea

Ute
**

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**
Early-mid 20s

11



11-12

11-12

11-12

11-12
Insecure, humourless, scared of authority

Naïve, sweet-natured, but made unhappy by circumstances. Wants to dance, like her sister, but isn’t quite the right shape. Very strong young actor required.

Gossipy, lively, a slight stirrer

Envious, ‘Princessy’, mean-spirited

Ballet-school type, dancing only

Ballet-school type, dancing only
3: Stasi officers: (Most adult playing age, need to be very strong)
Stasi Officer 1 (Comrade Weber)

Stasi Officer 2 (Comrade Neubert)
***

**
Mid 20s

Early-mid 20s
Cynical, exploitative, manipulative, frustrated, ambitious

Naïve, idealistic, fearfully towing the party line.
4: Beate: (The youngest cast member with several long speeches!)
Beate    
***    
8-10    
An ethereal figment of Inga’s imagination, a ghost of a small child    
Wessis: (Teenaged high school students, from West Berlin. Fairly privileged, well-to-do, Henning and Tanja (siblings) being new arrivals)
Henning


Tanja (Henning’s younger sister)

Silke (Tanja’s new friend)

Daniele (the same)

Gabriele (the same)

Klaus

Stefan

Jorg

Karin

Anja
**+


*

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**+

*

*

*

*
15-16


13-14

13-14

13-14

13-14

15-16

15-16

15-16

14-15

14-15
Awkward, ‘geeky’, but a dreamer. Father works in new embassy in East Berlin

Precocious, spoilt, pretty, in love with idea of ballet dancing

Competitive acolyte of Tanja’s

Another acolyte- envious, ‘Princessy’,

The same, but slightly more vulnerable

Class clown, fantasist, big in all senses

Realist, cynic

Nerdy, unaware, no social skills

Sweet-natured, soft-spot for Henning

No-nonsense, sensible