The Firework-Maker's Daughter Read Online Free PDF

me. I humbly request a private audience.
    KING: The White Elephant is a rare and wondrous beast. The request is granted...
    The KING and HAMLET have a private talk. LILA climbs to her feet.
    LILA: The King will never spare my father.
    CHULAK: Hamlet’s working on something...
    LILA: He’s an elephant! Why would the King listen to him?
    CHULAK: He’s a very persuasive elephant.
    The battered SPECIAL AND PARTICULAR BODYGUARD comes back in.
    SPECIAL AND PARTICULAR BODYGUARD: Where’s the beast?
    CHULAK: He’s chatting to the King.
    SPECIAL AND PARTICULAR BODYGUARD: I’ve had as much insolence as I’m going to take off you boy.
    CHULAK: No really, he is. And the King’s talking back too.
    The SPECIAL AND PARTICULAR BODYGUARD tries to draw his sword but it’s too bent to leave the scabbard. The KING and HAMLET return from their conference. HAMLET’s looking very stern.
    SPECIAL AND PARTICULAR BODYGUARD: Your majesty. This boy has defamed you. He says you’ve been talking to the elephant.
    KING: ( Instantly angry .) On your knees!
    The SPECIAL AND PARTICULAR BODYGUARD falls to his knees.
    KING: I decide who gets punished. Fetch the Special and Particular Royal Town Crier. I have a proclamation to make.
    The SPECIAL AND PARTICULAR BODYGUARD starts to crawl out of the room.
    KING: Quickly!
    The SPECIAL AND PARTICULAR BODYGUARD jumps out of the window to please the KING.
    KING: After careful consideration, I’ve made a wise and just decision. Firstly, elephants, do not talk.
    LILA and CHULAK look to HAMLET. He stares ahead.
    KING: ( To CHULAK .) For allowing the White Elephant to escape, you are dismissed.
    CHULAK sinks.
    KING: Next week, is the New Year Festival firework competition. I have invited the greatest artists in fireworks from all over the world to show their displays. This year there will be a new entrant - you. The prize will go to the artist whose display receives the longest applause. That is all the other competitors will know. You will know something more. If your display wins, Lalchand will go free. Lose... and Lalchand dies!
2 - LALCHAND’S WORKSHOP
    A fuse burns across the floor of the workshop. It reaches a large firework. There’s a tiny bang.
    CHULAK: Very disappointing. Come on, Lila, you’ve got to do better than that.
    LILA: I wasn’t testing the firework. I was testing the fuse.
    CHULAK: ( Covering ignorance .) Ah, I knew that actually... Did it work?
    LILA: No. I need new fuses. Fuses that burn at different speeds so I can set off fireworks in stages. I think I can do it. In the jungle, creepers twisted round trees. Something like that might work...
    CHULAK: ( Bemused .) Yeah, it might... Nice.
    LILA: I need new fireworks too. Things people have never seen before. More spectacle, louder explosions, brighter colours, higher rockets.
    CHULAK: Sounds good. You seem to have everything in hand. I’m very impressed.
    LILA sinks, depressed.
    CHULAK: What’s the matter?
    LILA: I’ve no idea what I’m doing.
    CHULAK: You’ve gone to a lot of trouble if you don’t know what you’re doing. Why did you climb Mount Merapi?
    LILA: To be a Firework-Maker.
    CHULAK: You’re making fireworks.
    LILA: There’s too much to learn.
    CHULAK: Well you’d better learn quickly. For Lalchand’s sake.
    LILA: I’m up against the greatest Firework-Makers in the world, in a competition that my father, who has thirtyyears of experience and taught me everything I know, has never won. If I don’t win, he dies. I’m allowed to panic.
    CHULAK: When you put it like that.
    LILA turns over the cart of fireworks, scattering them across the stage.
    CHULAK: Don’t do that!
    CHULAK hurries to pick up the fireworks.
    LILA: I don’t stand a chance.
    CHULAK: You’ll have the best... fuses.
    LILA: I need my Royal Sulphur! If I had that...
    CHULAK: You don’t need it, I’ll help you.
    LILA: You? What every