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Home - Play Synopsis - Creative Team - Photo Gallery - Bookings School Bound — Synopsis Gofo, a harried and overworked kitchen helper, has just finished her lunch and is about to toss her garbage onto the ground when she notices she is being watched...by an audience. Caught in the act, she looks for somewhere to dispose of the wrappers and sets her sight on an old breadbox. She pulls down the lid and is about to throw in her garbage when she discovers a magical world inside: a blue sky and white clouds above, a house and a school at each end. A symphony of sounds leads our curious chef’s assistant to the back of her cart, and the surprises within. At first, a hissing sound grabs Gofo’s attention. She finds an egg frying in a pan, only to discover that the bright yolk is really a rising sun. She attaches the sun above a cloud, and then hears a faint snore. The snoring is coming from inside a pot, and after a few attempts at lifting the lid, Gofo peers inside and finds a yam. She’s about to eat the yam but gets an earful...from Yamma, a yam with small eyes and a big journey ahead of him. Before long, Gofo prepares Yamma for his first day of school. She feeds him porridge with measuring spoons that turn into his family, brushes his teeth, and puts a hat (a cloth tea bag) on his head for warmth. Yamma steps out the door, and into the cold. A moment later it begins to snow as Gofo grates a snowball (foam ball) from above. Yamma starts to shiver, and the sounds of his shivers turn into rumbling motorcycles (pizza slicers) that tease Yamma as they run circles around him. The motorcycles zoom away, and Yamma forges ahead. A beeping sound puts Yamma’s journey on hold: a truck sweeper (hand beaters) barrels down the road, forcing Yamma to watch his step. When the coast is clear, he pushes on, only to be stopped in his tracks by a loud, menacing grunt. The local bully is soon on the scene, a potato masher with attitude. Shammu the bully teases Yamma, but gets as good as he gives when Tatti Tonga (a pair of tongs) gives him a tongue lashing and sends him on his way. Yamma finally makes it to the schoolyard, where he’s greeted by his friend, Ratkar (a carrot). Yamma recounts his adventures before both friends head into class. As Yamma steps through the doors he hears a sound from above. He looks up and sees a bird (corkscrew) soaring overhead, a fitting finale to a journey that saw him overcome all the obstacles he encountered. Yamma steps into school, emboldened by his experience, and a rainbow rises overhead. Gofo begins to pack up, humming O, Canada as if she were joining Yamma and his classmates at the start of another school day. The breadbox is closed, and young minds are opened to new ways of telling stories. |
