SMASH

The next musical production at the Dovehouse Theatre will be The Vackees, March 23rd-26th 2011. Auditions will be held in the autumn, but in the meantime here are some details about the story, characters and songs.

 THE VACKEES

Music by Carl Davis. Book & lyrics by Hiawyn Oram.
The story – an overview.   (Please note there are many more characters who are not mentioned here. SONGS are in capital letters)

As the story unfolds, it is interspersed with items of news about the war read by BBC announcers.

Kip, a tough East End evacuee and his friends are being evacuated to the country to escape bomb-blasted London. They are being billeted to Darchett, a small village in Somerset, south England. The Darchett gang – led by Buzz Brown – feel very threatened by the arrival of the cockneys. They think they are going to turn the town to ruins and take over the school playground. (LONDON KIDS)

Kip’s Mother back in London is very distressed to see Kip go off as an evacuee but understands it is for his own good (SENDING YOU TO SAFETY). Parents wave goodbye to the evacuees (the vackees) at the station (MOVING ON).

The Darchett adults express their surprise when they meet the evacuees to take them to their homes as they are not what they expected but the evacuees ask that PLEASE SOMEONE CHOOSE ME.  Kip (that “heathen-looking boy”) is chosen by Lucia Braithwaite (Aunt Luce) and is billeted in her house. Kip and the other evacuees dream what they will do WHEN THE WAR IS OVER.  Kip forms a close friendship with Ellen, Aunt Luce’s niece who lives with her. Aunt Luce has a young maid in training, Grace who becomes friends with Chuck, another evacuee.

Mr. Duncan Constance, Kip’s teacher tries to persuade Miss Laura Maybee, the local school mistress to allow the evacuees to share the school room with the Darchett children and young people. She eventually agrees. Mr Constance falls in love with Miss Maybee (but she doesn’t know it).

Aunt Luce is a formidable woman whose desire is to turn Kip into a respectable, clean and well mannered boy so she sets various rules, also insisting on MORNING PRAYERS.

The vackees are settling in and trying to understand the ways of the country and how it’s not like the town (THE COUNTRY’S THE COUNTRY).  The Darchett gang spot them on a bridge and Buzz Brown and his gang start to threaten the vackees. The vackees run off into the woods for safety.

In the woods, Kip meets Mr Jack (the “wild man of the woods”) who encourages him to open his eyes LOOKING TO SEE the wild animals and plants in the wood.

When the vackees and the Darchett young people share the classroom, their teachers try to hold two lessons at once resulting in complete mayhem.  The students and people from Darchett tell the vackees that they must keep OUR RULES.  The first act ends with the declaration of war between the people from Darchett and the Londoners.

 Act Two

Back in London the Blitz has started and the London parents describe its effects in LETTER FROM THE FRONT LINE.

Kip sees a German pilot jump out of his plane into the trees in the Darchett wood before the plane crashes.  He tries to tell the villagers but no-one will believe him.  Ellen lies and says that she saw the pilot jumping from the plane.

In the country, the Land Girls and villagers explain how important their work in growing crops is in WINNING THROUGH.

Mr Constance has joined the armed forces and wants to ask Miss Maybee to spend some time with him before he leaves.  She declines, but after he has gone realises the effect he has had on her heart – WARNING MAN IN UNIFORM.

Aunt Luce goes to check up on Ellen’s story supporting Kip’s sighting of the German pilot particularly as Ellen has sworn its truth on the Bible. To cheer up Helen, Kip and his friends disobey Aunt Luce’s strict instructions and take Ellen to the movies where they fall into the dream world of PICTURES AND GLAMOUR and meet stars such as Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.

Aunt Luce has confirmed that Ellen has not only been lying but has also been to the pictures and confines her to her room.  Aunt Luce wants Kip sent back to London but he decides to run away.  Whilst he is leaving, he and the evacuees are confronted by the Darchett gang.

The London and Darchett gangs fight it out in a fierce BATTLE OF DARCHETT HILL.  The battle ends with Kip being knocked unconscious.

Grace and Ellen back in Aunt Luce’s house both recount the excitement of recent events and how their lives have been changed by the arrival of the vackees – JUST FOR A MOMENT.

Kip is found by the German Pilot who decides not to kill Kip but to protect him.  The pilot  sings of the futility of war SOMEWHERE BEHIND.
The villagers search for Kip, and the German pilot surrenders. Lady Holdmore takes the village to task for its attitude to the vackees and all agree to WINDS OF CHANGE IN DARCHETT.

Grace gets a promotion to work at Lady Holdmore’s and Ellen is allowed to travel back to London with Kip. Chuck and the others stay back in Darchett for a little while longer. After MOVING ON and getting back to London, Kip hardly recognizes any of the war-torn areas. On seeing his blown up street he searches for his mother.