A first Draft to inform structure: Text/ Narrative/ Storyboard inspired by Story of Secret Garden

The Secret Garden of Fake Believe - Participatory Performance - Indoors and Outdoors- Immersive adventure ‘phygital trail’ 

Music plays as audiences enter and explore the space. Music stops. 
Dickon ‘Hello everyone!
Hello, I’m here to find the magic word, we’ve forgotten it! It’s a secret passcode to enter a magical place, we’ve been locked out of there for many years. Children, will you help us to find the magic password? 


Until they say a loud resounding yes! 


Applaud and cheer- stamp your feet and clap as loud as you can for 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 

First challenge- a game of Grandma’s footsteps to win the Letters as a reward: FD

Second Challenge- make a secret handshake- to win the Letters as a reward: RM

Third Challenge- the floor is lava. to win the Letters as a reward: EE

Fourth challenge- musical statues- to win the Letters as a reward: O

Unravel and unjumble the magic word- FREEDOM. 

Dickon- ‘FREEDOM, great stuff, we’ll need that magic word later.’ 

Narrator: 

This is our time, let’s travel to the secret garden in our minds.
Welcome to the voyage of freedom and escape. 
In the Secret Garden what will we find? 
The land of Fake Believe is starting to take shape. 
We see the world as we are, it’s time to take stock. 
A lot has happened, it’s a sign of the times we find ourselves in,
We need to find the key, and a guide to help us to find the lock. 
The lock to the magic door, towards freedom and peace. 

Mary is sick of feeling like an outsider, of wanting to run away, 
Of feeling frozen, and fighting to fit in, 
She feels left out, and can’t find the words to say, 
She feels helpless, and needs the light to pour in. 
Mary, needs your help, will you help her find her way? 
Adversity, unavoidable pain, a rather heavy storm. 
Chasing the rainbow, and living day by day. 
She’s searching for connection, for care, love and warmth.  
In the storm she’s swirling, She’s sick of screaming in to the void,
Right now the world seems foggy, her memories are blurry, 
In the storm, she’s frightened, her whole world has been destroyed. 
She misses the smile on her face, and times where she felt free. 

[Mary sat at the slump of the tree. Feeling hopeless.]

She’s feeling the stretch, it’s too much and she really is about to pop, 
In the heart of the storm, the voices in her head are becoming louder and louder, 
Sick and tired of feeling lost, it’s time to find space,
The Secret Garden of Fake Believe wouldn’t exist, without her. 
Have you heard about the Secret Garden? An extra- ordinary, ordinary place. 
That’s what makes it magic, for it’s shaped by your mind, 
When you haven’t got the words, and we are dancing with big feelings, 
It’s a place you can go to, when the world seems so unkind, 
In the land of Fake Believe, we can connect to the real things, 

We all have a Secret Garden don’t you know. But we need the magic key, 
Mary needs some friends, to walk with her in solidarity, to connect to what matters,

[Robin appears] 

Look, let’s follow the dancing robin, she’ll help us to see, 
Soaring in flight, and bouncing along the walls, for a moment Mary forgets about the disaster, 
She shows up in times like these, and the flicker of hope becomes brighter, 
and reminds Mary of a glimmer of joy, feeling gently in to a dance, 
In taking little steps, Mary follows the music of the birds, and she starts to feel lighter. 

(After a solo here, Mary stumbles across a door, and performs a knock) 

Enters Dickon- 

Dickon: ‘You look like you’re lost.’ 
Mary: ‘I’ve lost my key will you help me?’ 
Dickon: Ofcourse, but I’ll need help. Children, will you help me to find the lost key? 
A little bit of panto style engagement.
Ok then, follow me, Dickon takes hold of the children’s hands, and leads them to the edge of the parachute, to sit at the edges.

Dickon “It matters that you are here. For this garden to grow we need your voice. Children, do you remember the magic word, after three, can you shout it as loud as you can? 1, 2, 3” 

Children: “Freedom” 

Dickon: “Freedom is the magic word. We’ve done it, we have the key, who wants to come with me to ‘The Secret Garden?! Wait here for a moment. Stay here. Ok now, start to make small waves with parachute. All that stuff bubbling away, buried underneath, that needs your attention too. The garden, has been left for some time, it’s covered in weeds, we need to sort it out. 
Wow, we’ve been locked out of here for years. I knew we could do it. Time To Play.”

Dancers: Explore rapping/ chanting and body percussion rhythms- teaching a song. 

Mary, Mary, quite contrary
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockleshells
And pretty maids all in a row
And pretty maids all in a row
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockleshells
And pretty maids all in a row
And pretty maids all in a row

[Dance of Freedom and Exploring the Secret Garden.]

When I think about our garden, I think about trees. 
In order to understand the oak, and how it came to be, 
We must learn about the acorn, and explore what happened.
Our garden is a place of wonder, for fulfilment and respite. 
A place to come to be in nature, a place to settle down,
It is a world full of hidden emotions, to be wild, 
A place of light and shade,  a place to grow,
A place of hope and despair, a place to rewild,
A spectrum of technicolour filters. A place to come and go. 
In our garden, we can break the rules, a place to feel free,
We can be spontaneous, and embrace our weird, 
We can express ourselves fully, a place to look up to the sky, 
A chance to connect to our feelings and then allow them to drift by, 
A playground of hopes, and dreams, 
A playground filled with joy, sadness and laughter, 
A place to laugh, cry and feel all our feels, 
A place where we can speak our uncensored words, 
We can play together and show up as we are, 
We can draw, meditate and sing and sign, 
We can beatbox, and bust a rhyme,
We can dance without fear of what our footprints might leave. 
In this Secret Garden of Fake Believe. 

[Start with a duet between Mary and Dickon. Colin enters. Play inspired unison. Start with accumulation in clapping game and build to beautiful dancing and uplifting ensemble] 

Dickon: “Are you ready to join our adventure to Freedom?” 

[Participatory improvised Score of the Secret Garden- facilitated by Dickon.} 

Mary: “I choose to make this garden a wonderful place to live. I will not be confined to the walls built around me. I will be free. ” 

Colin: “Where your focus and energy flows, you can do what you need to do here, stop for a moment and breathe. Look up at the sky, and watch the clouds.” 

Dickon: “Thank you for visiting the secret garden. It’s time to go back home now. Goodbye.” 

Music plays as the audience leaves.