Noah's Ark. A play wot I wrote

You need 8 main actors but all the rest join in. They are:
Noah, his wife, three sons (Shem, Ham, Japeth), three girlfriends, and an angel. Personally I wouldn't choose an obvious angel! Be prepared with who you're going to choose and do it when they appear in the story. Of course in the story the whole of the rest of the audience dies - how accurate do you want to be? Are you happy that Noah finds them all swimming along behind? And no, I haven't done it since the tsunami.

You may want to use a prompt card that says 'Well get on with it!' because the whole audience shouts that at Noah lots of times, and have a book (the Shipbuilding manual) ready. I like the idea that its all put together at the time. I have no problem with telling Noah 'Say No...errr', and telling the Angel each time what to say - they don't need practise! I suppose you could write their lines down for them if you must!

Oh and of course you'll need to make the balloon thingies as they are needed. Practice the hat (2 needed), axes (5, or get them all chopping wood! Axes are swords, by the way), an angel hat with halo and wings and some animals. But maybe others can help - even the children? They are easy - you've no time to do clever stuff! I'd even have the axes and hats ready and one or two animals, but if you've bought the Party Pack, get them making animals at the end to stuff in the ark.

Although this can be a 'You do it all' and they do a bit of acting sort of show, it's much more fun if they have to make things too.

OK. Off we go.

Ask them all:
What is this story about? Look for the usual answers such as rain, ship, animals, god, etc. But have a chat about them.

* Was the rain as bad as last weeks, or worse? Have a little plant sprayer ready and spray it up above their heads)
* Has anyone ever seen a flood?
* Who's been on a ship? (Bet you were sick)
* There was lots of crime and God was fed up. What are crimes?

And if you wish, mention that at this time (according to the Bible) animals weren't afraid of man, there was no cold and strangely there had never been any rain (do you remember the rainbow appears for the first time ever?)

Now, personally I say I'm going to start, then think, then go 'ummmm' then go 'Right...' for a bit - looking puzzled and then ask:

How do stories start? They'll reply 'Once upon a time'
So. Say 'Once upon a time.....Mrs Smith...' Use a name of someone they all know - and quickly say 'Oh no, that's the wrong story! I'll have to start again'. Of course if Mrs Smith makes a huge surprised face that gets people laughing already.
Now say 'Twice upon a time...' They will all shout at you, but you explain that this is the second time you've started and so you have to say 'twice upon a time'. It is these bits of business (as we call them in the trade) that make it all the more fun, and gets even the shy ones involved.

Anyway...

Once upon a time ...

Setting the scene
A family lived in a village.
The father, Noah, was a bit lazy and never got round to his jobs.
(Give Noah his hat and a sword)
The Mummy was always having to make him do them.
(She can have a hat too!)

Mrs Noah says: Have you done your work yet?
Noah says: No...er... (explain that's why he's was called No...er... )
Mrs Noah (and everybody else) says: Well get on with it!

The three sons say: Are you ready to take us to school?
Noah says: No...er
And everyone shouts: Well get on with it!

Although the main actors stand up to speak, I don't actually have a stage area. I'm just sat in front of them. They don't walk off to school, just do a bit of tramping in place.

The Angel
One day Noah was sat in the garden looking at his huge list of jobs (cos Daddies do all the jobs in the house, don't they? - and you'll have a chat or too about that from some of them) and an Angel came down
Give the Angel a hat with a halo and wings and get them to stand away at one side. Wave them in when needed.

Angel says: God's fed up with you lot. (1st VISIT)
The bad news is he's going to drown everyone and start again!
The good news is he's going to save the Noah family.
Here's a book on shipbuilding - read it!
Noah went home and told his family what had happened.

A week later the angel came back. (2nd VISIT)
Angel says: Have you read that book yet?
Noah says: No...er
Everyone says: Well get on with it!

A week later the angel came back. (3rd VISIT)
Angel says: Have you started building the boat yet?
Noah says: No...er
Everyone says: Well get on with it!

A week later the angel came back. (4th VISIT)
Angel says: Have you got the wood yet?
Noah says: No...er
Everyone says: Well get on with it!

THE MUMMY IS IN CHARGE
Which is, of course, true because Mummies are always telling us what to do. So the angel told the Mummy to take charge.
Choose the three sons and their girlfriends (I find this either brings on serious talk about 'so and so has a girlfriend' or giggles etc. so you will have thought in advance who to choose!) and give them all axes.

Mrs Noah says: Lets go and chop the wood for the boat.

And do you know it took 100 yrs because they all lived a long time in those days.

Make the Ark. Blow up 3 (or have them blown up ready) and just twist them together at one end, and at the other. Do another three similarly. Use one NOT blown up to tie round the end-bubbles of one lot, and the other lot and do the same at the other end. I'm hoping you have what looks like two bunches of bananas lying side by side - or, possibly, even a rudimentary boat. Use unblown balloons just to lash them together and you can even tie on from one end to the other to make it boat shaped if needed. I'm going to let you experiment here.

It was 150 metres long, had 1 window, 3 floors and a big room for poo.

THE ANIMALS came in two by twos and the humans came in 4 by 4s
A week later the angel came back. (5th VISIT)
Angel says: Have you got the animals yet?
Noah says: No...er
Everyone says: Well get on with it!

Now here I point at people in the audience and say 'You have to get caterpillars', 'You have to get slugs' and so on.
We won't go into the fact that collecting ducks is silly, and yes, according to the bible there were probably dinosaurs, and, no Johnny, they wouldn't fit in, would they. Yes, Alice, I expect they would eat up all the little cuddly things. Ask them to name some animals they might NOT want in the boat.

Make balloon animals (horse, dog, snake, mouse)

RAIN
Use a tape or make them make raining movements with their hands and use the sprayer! Maybe they all sing 'Rain rain go away - come again another day!'

Now they spend over a year locked in getting sea-sick (although one verson in the Bible says 40 days and 40 nights. Did you know there were two versions?).
All the windows had to kept shut, and noone was allowed up on deck.
So all the poo had to kept in the poo room - and Boy! Did that ship smell!!

THE SOUND OF SILENCE
At last it stopped raining (if you've been using taped rain, stop it now) and Noah sent a Raven out, which couldn't find anywhere to land cos the water was so high (point above their heads - tell them to hold their noses, hold their breath and keep swimming).
Then he sent a Dove out which came back with twig. Then it went out again and never came back. It had drowned - no it hadn't!
So they all rushed up on deck and there was the world all washed clean. But miraculously with green grass for the animals, forests and...oh well...it was just a story. Wasn't it?

Let the children tell you and they'll make up their own reasons why it did/didn't happen - lots of questions, lots of chatter. Then they all got out of the boat - to Play. Everybody claps everybody.

I'm sure you can add bits, make it funnier, shorter, a proper play. My idea was just to tell a story with balloons and fun and let them all join in with their ideas. It changes every time I do it. You do it! But tell me how you get on!