I Believe in Unicorns

Michael Morpurgo, Wizard Presents, Wizard Theatre

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781783199976
• eBook ISBN: 9781783199983
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

Back by popular demand, for a second magical West End season, this intimate show is set in a library full of books that hold more than stories within their pages. It is a tale of the power of books, and the bravery of a young boy called Tomas. Tomas loves playing in the mountains where he lives and hates reading and school, but his world is turned upside down the day he meets the Unicorn Lady in his local library... An enchanting and interactive show, I Believe in Unicorns sparks the imagination of both young and old. You too will believe in unicorns after joining Tomas's spellbinding journey!Suitable for a family audience and children aged 6+

The LIBRARIAN walks out onto the stage. She seems nervous, out of her comfort zone.

LIBRARIAN: Hello, and welcome to this extremely special and happy event; the re-opening of our new village library. Thank you all for keeping the books safe and returning them today where they belong.

Because I am the librarian here, the mayor very kindly asked me if I would make this speech, just this morning in fact! To be honest, I’m more of a storyteller than a speechmaker, but I’ll do my best to say a few words …

I’m never going to remember all the people I’ve got to thank! I’d like to begin by thanking and applauding our mayor, Mr Troicki.

We applaud the mayor, who is a member of the audience.

LIBRARIAN: Mr Troicki is an extremely busy man, yet he’s been tireless in his support of the project, and actually breathtaking in his attention to detail, phoning around to check up on me all the time. So, many thanks to him and to his wife Mrs Troicki, who I think does a quite remarkable job.

LIBRARIAN: I’d also like to thank …

LIBRARIAN hesitates as if she’s nervous or can’t remember who she needs to thank.

LIBRARIAN: I’d like to thank the Library Construction Committee;

The LIBRARIAN picks out two members of the audience.

Mr Tomic, our secretary;

And Miss Lang, our Treasurer, who is wearing (LIBRARIAN describes whatever the audience member is wearing.) today.

The LIBRARIAN seems momentarily distracted by a thought but resolves to plough on.

LIBRARIAN: Sponsors! Our sponsors! Mrs Danic’s Bakery for their generous sponsorship of our new toilets, and they are currently offering half price pastries for the over-50s, so that’s nice isn’t it?

The LIBRARIAN decides to go off script.

LIBRARIAN: I’m sorry Mr Mayor … would you bear with me for a minute? I know we have a lot of official people to thank, but there’s someone we’ve forgotten. You see a library is only a library because of its books. We wouldn’t have our books without a little boy called Tomas, Tomas Porec. I’m going to tell you about Tomas …

When I first met him, when I first became the librarian here, he was about eight years old and he lived with his mum and dad just on the outskirts of our village on a small farm. They kept chickens and pigs, a couple of cows for milk, and a few goats.

I’d heard a lot about him from his mother. She was always in my library. She loved reading. By sharp contrast, Tomas hated books and he hated school and to the despair of his mother, he could hardly read or write.

She would say to him,

“Tomas, I need you to be able to read; books open up whole new worlds, where you can do and be anything you want to be. You have to go to school.”

Tomas’ father disagreed. He would say,

“School and books ne...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Chapter 1
• also by Michael Morpurgo