The Jungle Book (Stage Version) (NHB Modern Plays)

Rudyard Kipling

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781780015323
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Rudyard Kipling's classic jungle tales, in an acclaimed stage adaptation by Stuart Paterson, 'a master of children's theatre' ( Scotsman ).

'This exhilarating production ticks all the boxes for families looking for an uplifting treat' - Time Out

'A top-class production, a tropical cocktail of intense and comical moments, shaken and stirred with heart-stopping dangers and surprises' - Daily Telegraph

'Up against Disney, you have your work cut out to produce a show that's entertaining, fast-moving and fun in comparison. The Birmingham Stage Company does exactly that... It's fun, it's poignant and it's entertainment at its very best' - Darlington News

'Paterson has mastered the art of injecting new zest and colour into classic children's stories' - The Times

ACT ONE

Scene One

The Jungle. The animals make their call to the night.

ALL (song).
Now Chil the Kite brings home the night
That Mang the Bat sets free –
The herds are shut in byre and hut,
For loosed till dawn are we!
This is the hour of pride and power,
Talon and tooth and claw!
Oh hear the call – Good hunting all
That keep the Jungle Law!

Sudden darkness – the heart of the Jungle at night-time, the only light from a pale moonbeam. Enter a BABY boy (a puppet) crawling and laughing, followed by the terrifying figure of SHERE KHAN, his limp making him all the more fearsome. He towers over the BABY.

SHERE KHAN. How happy I am with my hunting this night – a fresh child plucked from the man-village, a sweet child to feed the hunger of Shere Khan!

The BABY laughs, a magical sound which wounds SHERE KHAN to the heart.

Loathsome sound! It must sound no more! (He lifts his claws to strike but there comes a low, challenging growl from the surrounding darkness.) Who’s there? Who dares spy on my kill? Show yourself! (Silence.) Then I will hunt and kill you! (To BABY.) You’re my meat, man cub!

He goes. Enter RAKSHA, a she-wolf.

RAKSHA (urgently). Come quickly, man cub. Bagheera has risked his life so I may save you.

The loud roar of SHERE KHAN. Enter BAGHEERA, a panther.

BAGHEERA. Hurry, Raksha, Shere Khan has my scent!

RAKSHA (picking up BABY). I will keep him as one of my own.

BAGHEERA. That is for Akela and the wolves to say.

RAKSHA. Hurry then – to Akela!

BAGHEERA. To Akela!

They rush off with the BABY. Enter SHERE KHAN. He roars with fury.

SHERE KHAN. No one takes meat from my mouth. I will hunt you and I will find you! Hear me, man cub – to my teeth will you come!

He roars, and exits.

A moonlit clearing by the Council Rock. SHERE KHAN’s terrifying roar can be heard in the distance. Enter AKELA.

AKELA (taking his place on the Council Rock). Hear me, oh wolves! Hear Akela, leader of the pack! Shere Khan roars like the wind, but together we are safe!

PACK. Together!

AKELA. Together we are strong!

Enter BAGHEERA.

BAGHEERA. H’ssh, Akela, it is neither bullock nor buck he hunts tonight – it is man!

Enter RAKSHA, bearing the BABY.

Raksha has stolen this child from Shere Khan’s mouth!

AKELA. A man cub? I have never seen one. Bring it here.

RAKSHA (laying the BABY before AKELA). I could not let him kill one so small and helpless.

AKELA (examines the BABY). He has no hair! Ha, except on his head! And I could kill him with a touch of my foot.

The BABY laughs.

Listen! (Laughing too.) That is a roar like no other.

RAKSHA. And his eyes, see how they sparkle like drops of water in the sun.

AKELA (amazed). He looks right at me, and is not afraid! I have never seen a cub so brave.

RAKSHA. So we may keep him?

AKELA. You know the Law. The Pack must decide.

A sinister little shadow enters the hollow – TABAQUI the jackal.

TABAQUI (with horrid politeness). Good luck to you, Akela, great Chief of the Seeonee Wolves, and good luck and strong white teeth to all your children. (Sniffs.) What a strange scent there is in the air tonight. Do you have it? You must have it.

AKELA. Be gone, Tabaqui – there is no food here.

TABAQUI (searching and sniffing). My master Shere Khan has shifted his hunting grounds.

RAKSHA. The villagers will hunt your master, and we must run when the grass is set alight! Indeed, we are grateful to Shere Khan!

TABAQUI (advancing threateningly on RAKSHA). Shall I tell him of your gratitude?

RAKSHA (stepping back from him, but still hiding the BABY behind her). Get away from me, dish-licker!

TABAQUI. You try to hide it but you’re afraid of Tabaqui the Jackal . . . You all are, for you know he is apt to go mad . . . (Leers.) And then Tabaqui runs through the forest biting everything in his way . . . (Makes a sudden lunge at RAKSHA, forcing her to leap back and reveal the BABY.) There he is! There! You stole him from my master, and my master will have him back!

AKELA. He will not have him!

TABAQUI. My master has promised me an ankle bone. Give him to me . . . Now!

AKELA. Never! From this moment I am his father!

RAKSHA. And I his mother!

TABAQUI. You know the Law – if he is to join the Pack, three must speak for the cub who are not of his blood.

AKELA. He speaks the truth.

TABAQUI (calling out). Who of the Pack will speak for him?

Who will speak?

Silence.

You see, you must give him to me.

AKELA. Be gone, jackal, or I will have your bones!

TABAQUI. One day you will miss your kill, Akela, and then you will be leader no more . . .

RAKSHA advances on him.

I go, I go – but when I come back I won’t be alone!

He runs off.

AKELA. Shere Khan will come, Raksha, have no doubt.

RAKSHA. Bagheera and I found him naked by night, alone and hungry . . . Lie still, little frog, for Mowgli the Frog I will call you . . . Hear me, oh wolves, we must keep him!

WOLF. What have the wolves to do with a man cub?

RAKSHA. He is alone and brave!

WOLF. He brings only trouble! Give him to the Tiger!

AKELA. We are the Seeonee Wolves! Where is your courage?

RAKSHA. Have we these teeth for nothing? Someone must speak for him . . . Someone . . .

Enter BALOO, an old brown bear. He goes straight to the BABY, picks him up playfully.

BALOO. Where did you come from, little man? What have you got to say for yourself? (Throws him up and catches him, making the BABY laugh.) Well, all right, if you say so . . .

He throws him up again, then calms the BABY and hands him to RAKSHA. BALOO turns to the Pack, and speaks with simple power and dignity.

I am only Baloo, but I teach your cubs and I have a voice in the Pack. I am only Baloo, but I will...