The Bubble-gum Tree
Synopsis:
Projected newsreel footage takes the audience back to the raising of the Berlin Wall. As it fades a typewriter taps out a location in East Berlin. A young girl, Inga, sleeps in a cheap, grubby flat at night, while elsewhere a smaller, ghostly child (Beate) talks of Inga’s dreams- a distorted memory of her dad, now absent, reading the Little Mermaid to her. As Beate speaks, frightening figures (dancers) appear, realising the dream, lifting Inga, manoeuvring her as if she’s underwater and part of the story. An alarm bell sounds, the flat and Inga disappear, and the dancers suddenly reconfigure as a troupe being hounded by their unforgiving choreographer, Petra.
Later, after their practise, the dancers rest and smoke on the steps of an East German ballet academy. There is much banter between one of them, Florian (a loud joker) and the rest. Inga appears and approaches a girl, her older sister, Lena, who tells her of a special performance that the company is doing that night to inaugurate the opening of a new western embassy in East Berlin.
Meanwhile, in the west, another girl, Tanja, boasts to her friends about how good at ballet she is, and how her father has got a job at a new embassy in the east and is taking her and her older brother, Henning, to see a ballet performance there, that night- the same performance that Lena was mentioning to Inga and will be in.
Later, on her way home, Inga’s friend Rosa shows Inga the new embassy, set in a garden behind some railings. Next to the railings (within the garden) is a large linden tree. As Rosa catches her bus, Inga hears voices from the garden, ducks out of the way and overhears Tanja and Henning, Tanja asking Henning to reach into a hole in the trunk of the tree to see if there’s a nest there.
After the ballet performance, Henning, lost, accidentally wanders into the dancers’ changing rooms, where Lena, alone, is packing her things away. As they talk, Lena betrays her interest in the West and its luxuries. Henning, remembering the Linden tree (and knowing that he will be visiting the embassy on weekends), offers to leave some bubble-gum in the hole in it’s trunk.
Unfortunately, this conversation has been recorded and overheard by two Stasi officers in a listening post. One, ambitious, worldly and lewd, sees it as an opportunity to further his career (and a way of showing off to his younger, more idealistic colleague), and they arrange to set a watch on the tree.
Petra tells the dancers of another special performance being planned, this time (to their astonishment) in West Berlin, and that the performance will be a reimagining of the Little Mermaid. Afterwards Petra meets her boyfriend (the lewd Stasi officer) who knows of the performance and gives Petra a list of ‘bad apples’ within her troupe.
In a Pioneer meeting (attended by Rosa and Inga), news is imparted of an opportunity for young Pioneers to audition for the Little Mermaid ballet, for minor/younger roles. It then transpires that all but Inga have graduated to the ‘Free German Youth’. Another girl, Sabine, maliciously explains that this is a result of Inga’s parents’ traitorousness, and we learn that Inga and Lena live without them, being looked after by a drunken Aunt. When Inga asks the Pioneer leader why she didn’t graduate, she is thrown out.
Back in the west, in Tanja and Henning’s school, a motley group of teens discuss the likelihood of one of them, Klaus, attracting Tanja. Ballet is discussed, and Henning recalls having met an East German ballet dancer, and that he needs some bubble-gum.
When the ballet is cast, Lena discovers that she has been overlooked for any sizeable role. She storms out. Later she goes to the linden tree, retrieves some bubble-gum (left by Henning), angrily writes a note on a wrapper with a stick of eye-liner and places it in the hole. This is secretly photographed by a Stasi operative.
At the Pioneer audition for the ballet, Inga is surprised to be selected. Later she and Lena argue, Lena venting her resentment at having to be Inga’s carer, Inga berating Lena for not being happy for her successful audition.
In the western school Henning (having retrieved the bubble-gum wrapper) reveals that on it has been written ‘Get me out of here’. The rest of the group gets wind of this, and a plan is hatched.
The Stasi operative who has been watching the tree (and spying from within the ballet company) is revealed as Florian. It is already clear that the Stasis are blackmailing him because of his hidden homosexuality.
As Inga and Lena’s relationship deteriorates further, they see almost nothing of each other. Inga, however, realises where the bubble-gum has been coming from.
In the western school the plan is revealed as involving the dancer throwing herself out of a high corridor window at the back on the theatre on to a soft landing that the school-kids will have prepared below, at the climax of the show. Thereafter more messages/bubblegum are exchanged.
As the dance company further practise the Little Mermaid, the dance blends with further dream sequences of Inga’s, narrated by Beate. In one, Inga finds herself, like the Little Mermaid, up high, unable to throw herself into the churning sea below.
When the dance company (and Inga) finally travel to the theatre in West Berlin, Lena isn’t with them. She has been arrested by the Stasi officers, who now believe they have enough evidence against her. At the same time, one of the western school-kids gives away the plan to rescue the ballet dancer to Tanja, who then goes off to tell her dad. The plan is off.
In an interrogation room, it becomes apparent that it is Inga, not Lena, who has been exchanging messages with the West. The Stasi officers reveal that information about a planned jump (organised by some school-kids) has been shared with them by western intelligence. Panicking, Lena fears that Inga, not knowing this, might jump anyway. She reveals that Inga has a secret wish to find their unspoken-of younger sister, Beate, who she thinks might be in the West. She explains that their mother jumped to the West with Beate in her arms out of a window when Inga and Lena were little, but that Inga was too afraid to follow, and the likelihood is that they were both shot.
Back at the theatre, Inga wanders an upstairs corridor, trying to peer out of windows to the ground below. Florian appears, drunk, and gives away his duplicity and his unhappiness. Petra likewise appears, and reveals that she was working against the East German regime all along, and that the whole production was an anti-communist allegory. She explains that she chose Inga to be in it, to compensate for being prevented from giving Lena a better role. In remorse, Florian indicates to Inga that she can still try and escape, as there will soon be a diversion. So saying, he throws himself out of a window, thus creating the very diversion himself. At that moment, the younger Stasi officer (having been moved by Lena’s story and rescued her from the other officer’s lascivious clutches) rushes into the corridor with Lena in tow. He thrusts some West German currency into their hands, and they make their escape.
As they walk slowly through rainy Western shopping streets, figures with umbrellas rush past. One holds the hand of a little girl, who turns and looks at them. It is Beate.
Notes:
As ever, the challenge was/is to prevent scene changes from holding up the pace. To that end I used a modular set, with spare cast members re-incorporating blocks as a bed-room, portico of dance school, dining table, corridor, café, school refectory etc, while the cast positioned themselves, and drilled it till the changes were slick enough to last no longer than the projected scene idents (see below).
Some projection is necessary. I used a 70s typewriter font (+ sound effect) for the scene idents as if being typed out in real time (projected above the action). These can be supplied. Also needed are a series of quickly overlaid black and white stills of Lena, as if caught by a surveillance camera (again + sound effect), and some old documentary footage of the early days of the Berlin Wall combined with stills and footage of it coming down for the beginning and end (which can be supplied, along with the underscore). Also needed is an image of Florian’s character, lying face up on the ground, shot from high above, as if he’s thrown himself out of a window.
There’s plenty of scope for dance, both expressive/abstract (in the sequences with Beate) and more orthodox ballet for rehearsal scenes (practises, bits of performances etc). For a lot of scene change music I used chirpy ‘bubblegum pop’ from the early 70s.
Synopsis:
Projected newsreel footage takes the audience back to the raising of the Berlin Wall. As it fades a typewriter taps out a location in East Berlin. A young girl, Inga, sleeps in a cheap, grubby flat at night, while elsewhere a smaller, ghostly child (Beate) talks of Inga’s dreams- a distorted memory of her dad, now absent, reading the Little Mermaid to her. As Beate speaks, frightening figures (dancers) appear, realising the dream, lifting Inga, manoeuvring her as if she’s underwater and part of the story. An alarm bell sounds, the flat and Inga disappear, and the dancers suddenly reconfigure as a troupe being hounded by their unforgiving choreographer, Petra.
Later, after their practise, the dancers rest and smoke on the steps of an East German ballet academy. There is much banter between one of them, Florian (a loud joker) and the rest. Inga appears and approaches a girl, her older sister, Lena, who tells her of a special performance that the company is doing that night to inaugurate the opening of a new western embassy in East Berlin.
Meanwhile, in the west, another girl, Tanja, boasts to her friends about how good at ballet she is, and how her father has got a job at a new embassy in the east and is taking her and her older brother, Henning, to see a ballet performance there, that night- the same performance that Lena was mentioning to Inga and will be in.
Later, on her way home, Inga’s friend Rosa shows Inga the new embassy, set in a garden behind some railings. Next to the railings (within the garden) is a large linden tree. As Rosa catches her bus, Inga hears voices from the garden, ducks out of the way and overhears Tanja and Henning, Tanja asking Henning to reach into a hole in the trunk of the tree to see if there’s a nest there.
After the ballet performance, Henning, lost, accidentally wanders into the dancers’ changing rooms, where Lena, alone, is packing her things away. As they talk, Lena betrays her interest in the West and its luxuries. Henning, remembering the Linden tree (and knowing that he will be visiting the embassy on weekends), offers to leave some bubble-gum in the hole in it’s trunk.
Unfortunately, this conversation has been recorded and overheard by two Stasi officers in a listening post. One, ambitious, worldly and lewd, sees it as an opportunity to further his career (and a way of showing off to his younger, more idealistic colleague), and they arrange to set a watch on the tree.
Petra tells the dancers of another special performance being planned, this time (to their astonishment) in West Berlin, and that the performance will be a reimagining of the Little Mermaid. Afterwards Petra meets her boyfriend (the lewd Stasi officer) who knows of the performance and gives Petra a list of ‘bad apples’ within her troupe.
In a Pioneer meeting (attended by Rosa and Inga), news is imparted of an opportunity for young Pioneers to audition for the Little Mermaid ballet, for minor/younger roles. It then transpires that all but Inga have graduated to the ‘Free German Youth’. Another girl, Sabine, maliciously explains that this is a result of Inga’s parents’ traitorousness, and we learn that Inga and Lena live without them, being looked after by a drunken Aunt. When Inga asks the Pioneer leader why she didn’t graduate, she is thrown out.
Back in the west, in Tanja and Henning’s school, a motley group of teens discuss the likelihood of one of them, Klaus, attracting Tanja. Ballet is discussed, and Henning recalls having met an East German ballet dancer, and that he needs some bubble-gum.
When the ballet is cast, Lena discovers that she has been overlooked for any sizeable role. She storms out. Later she goes to the linden tree, retrieves some bubble-gum (left by Henning), angrily writes a note on a wrapper with a stick of eye-liner and places it in the hole. This is secretly photographed by a Stasi operative.
At the Pioneer audition for the ballet, Inga is surprised to be selected. Later she and Lena argue, Lena venting her resentment at having to be Inga’s carer, Inga berating Lena for not being happy for her successful audition.
In the western school Henning (having retrieved the bubble-gum wrapper) reveals that on it has been written ‘Get me out of here’. The rest of the group gets wind of this, and a plan is hatched.
The Stasi operative who has been watching the tree (and spying from within the ballet company) is revealed as Florian. It is already clear that the Stasis are blackmailing him because of his hidden homosexuality.
As Inga and Lena’s relationship deteriorates further, they see almost nothing of each other. Inga, however, realises where the bubble-gum has been coming from.
In the western school the plan is revealed as involving the dancer throwing herself out of a high corridor window at the back on the theatre on to a soft landing that the school-kids will have prepared below, at the climax of the show. Thereafter more messages/bubblegum are exchanged.
As the dance company further practise the Little Mermaid, the dance blends with further dream sequences of Inga’s, narrated by Beate. In one, Inga finds herself, like the Little Mermaid, up high, unable to throw herself into the churning sea below.
When the dance company (and Inga) finally travel to the theatre in West Berlin, Lena isn’t with them. She has been arrested by the Stasi officers, who now believe they have enough evidence against her. At the same time, one of the western school-kids gives away the plan to rescue the ballet dancer to Tanja, who then goes off to tell her dad. The plan is off.
In an interrogation room, it becomes apparent that it is Inga, not Lena, who has been exchanging messages with the West. The Stasi officers reveal that information about a planned jump (organised by some school-kids) has been shared with them by western intelligence. Panicking, Lena fears that Inga, not knowing this, might jump anyway. She reveals that Inga has a secret wish to find their unspoken-of younger sister, Beate, who she thinks might be in the West. She explains that their mother jumped to the West with Beate in her arms out of a window when Inga and Lena were little, but that Inga was too afraid to follow, and the likelihood is that they were both shot.
Back at the theatre, Inga wanders an upstairs corridor, trying to peer out of windows to the ground below. Florian appears, drunk, and gives away his duplicity and his unhappiness. Petra likewise appears, and reveals that she was working against the East German regime all along, and that the whole production was an anti-communist allegory. She explains that she chose Inga to be in it, to compensate for being prevented from giving Lena a better role. In remorse, Florian indicates to Inga that she can still try and escape, as there will soon be a diversion. So saying, he throws himself out of a window, thus creating the very diversion himself. At that moment, the younger Stasi officer (having been moved by Lena’s story and rescued her from the other officer’s lascivious clutches) rushes into the corridor with Lena in tow. He thrusts some West German currency into their hands, and they make their escape.
As they walk slowly through rainy Western shopping streets, figures with umbrellas rush past. One holds the hand of a little girl, who turns and looks at them. It is Beate.
Notes:
As ever, the challenge was/is to prevent scene changes from holding up the pace. To that end I used a modular set, with spare cast members re-incorporating blocks as a bed-room, portico of dance school, dining table, corridor, café, school refectory etc, while the cast positioned themselves, and drilled it till the changes were slick enough to last no longer than the projected scene idents (see below).
Some projection is necessary. I used a 70s typewriter font (+ sound effect) for the scene idents as if being typed out in real time (projected above the action). These can be supplied. Also needed are a series of quickly overlaid black and white stills of Lena, as if caught by a surveillance camera (again + sound effect), and some old documentary footage of the early days of the Berlin Wall combined with stills and footage of it coming down for the beginning and end (which can be supplied, along with the underscore). Also needed is an image of Florian’s character, lying face up on the ground, shot from high above, as if he’s thrown himself out of a window.
There’s plenty of scope for dance, both expressive/abstract (in the sequences with Beate) and more orthodox ballet for rehearsal scenes (practises, bits of performances etc). For a lot of scene change music I used chirpy ‘bubblegum pop’ from the early 70s.
