ARRIVAL (Prologue Instrumental) The year is 1966. A young girl of about 18, called Helen-Elaine is about to leave home for the first time. She is packing her bags and looking through some old photos, choosing which ones to take with her. We see her sitting on her bedroom floor, maybe looking at a photo album and taking a few pictures out, or just looking at loose photos and slowly gathering together the ones she wants. As she does this she recalls the moments from her life and the stories tied up with the photographs of her parents and grandparents. We get a glimpse of these moments too as they come alive around her. We see her grandparents meet and get married, her parents growing, meeting, becoming lovers, getting married and eventually having Helen. Time moves on again and we see Helen grow up as we continue to make brief ‘visits’ to moments of her life - right up to the present time.
All of this is woven into various traditional Scottish dances, with ‘new’ moments of time emerging from within a closed formation or while a change of dance allows for new characters to come onto the stage. Eventually the dancers clear the stage and Helen is left by herself - centre stage, putting the chosen pictures into her bag.
I WONDER (Departure) Helen
As she takes a final look around her room and gathers together her last few precious possessions, she reflects on her life in her hometown and the future, which she is leaving behind in favour of a different one in another place. At the end of the song her mother comes in with the news that Robin is waiting to see her. Robin is her boyfriend with whom she has just broken up. She agrees to see him and they talk about how they still care for each other, but that they both know what she is doing is for the best. They kiss goodbye and she begins her journey.
I AM THE CITY The Chorus
She picks up her bags and heads south to London. (Though it could be Glasgow) The city embraces her with open arms. The stage is quickly filled with all sorts of weird and wonderful people, going about their normal and not so normal lives. Helen arrives in the middle of it all and soon feels like she is exactly where she is meant to be. During this scene we get to see many recognisable images from life in the 60’s. The fashions, the films advertised on posters, the music and items of the time, such as the radios, cars and furniture of the age. Elements of the styles of dancing etc would be incorporated into the choreography of the people on the streets.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE The Chorus
While she is looking around this fascinating city, she begins to learn a bit about the people that inhabit it. The people on the street speak of the local sugar daddy tycoon, who we see passing by with several girls on his arm. It seems this man is in control or owns most of the nearby businesses and properties. Almost everybody owes him something, be it money or loyalty. We see him go about his high-flying business as the locals look on in envy.
SING YOU MY LOVE SONG Helen, Alice & Kim
The man notices Helen and offers her a job at his club. Having no other offers at the time, Helen decides to give it a go. Her job is to dance for the punters, let them dream about the kind of life and love they don’t get at home. Helen is a natural and before long she is one of the favourite dancers. She has noticed and been noticed by one of the regulars. He’s a handsome man, not much older than her and she begins putting on a slightly ‘better’ show for him. On this occasion the man breaks the rules and kisses Helen. The boss is furious, but Helen is more than happy to be kissed by this handsome man.
SO LONG Helen
The Boss drags Helen away from the man and warns her that she could lose her job if she doesn’t behave herself. Of course, she could make everything so much easier for herself if she would only give in to his constant advances - another example of which she now experiences. She tells him where to stick his job, his flowers his flash cars and his money. She quits and as a final statement of defiance she (and the other girls) dance as close as they want with the men in the club – though of course Helen only dances with her own man. The club goes a bit wild and the bouncers start throwing people out. Helen and her man leave willingly, wrapped up in a haze of shiny new love and passion.
LOVELIGHT Helen & William
The two fall very much in love and before long they begin to build a life together. We see them in the early stages of their affair, loved up and enjoying life to the full – in the way that only young new lovers can! Later in the song we see Helen setting up home with her man. As the song continues we also see her man return to the club, where he soon finds another dancer to act out his fantasies! Eventually we see him kiss that girl too and one night he comes home to collect his stuff and leave Helen!
DISILLUSION Helen
Helen is feeling depressed and disillusioned by the man she thought loved her and the life she thought was going to be so great! As she sings her song, we see her wander the same streets as in I Am The City, but those same streets are now cold, dark and full of shadows she doesn’t want to see. As she wanders, we see brief images from the past of her and William together and more recent images of William with his numerous new women.
HOLE IN YOUR SOUL Alice
Her friend Alice, from the club, meets her in the street. She can see that Helen is obviously feeling down and suggests a night on the town to cheer her up. Alice has her radio with her and turns it on as she takes Helen by the arm and takes her back to her own flat to get changed and made up. Alice lends her an outfit of hers to wear, she does her hair and makeup and eventually Helen begins to feel better and is looking forward to her night out with her friend.
KING KONG SONG Danny
They go to a club where a band is playing. The band plays a crazy song, which has an equally crazy dance to accompany it. Everyone joins in and soon Helen has forgotten all about her lost lover. She now has her eye on the lead singer and it seems he has noticed her too. When he’s finished singing he finds her and they talk and before long they become lovers!
I AM JUST A GIRL Helen, Alice, Kim etc.
Later that same night, while her singer is off getting her a drink, Helen goes off to powder her nose. We see her and a few other girls touching up their makeup and reflecting on how they are only ordinary girls, but tonight they feel special. For Helen, just a few little words have changed her entire outlook on life. Someone loves her again and all is great with the world! Once the noses have been powdered, she and the other girls head back to their men and dance the night away in the arms of their lovers. As the song turns to an instrumental, time skips ahead and we see that Helen and Danny have got married. The scene ends in a tableau of their wedding photograph.
ANGELEYES Helen
It is now about 1975. Helen and Danny have two children and although everything may look ok, it isn’t!Mike is still a singer and often playing away from home – in both senses of the word! It seems her lead singer has started serenading other women and Helen catches him with one woman too many. She saw him last night with another woman and he has just called her to say that he has to work late and won’t be home for a few more hours. She’s furious and decides that she has had enough.We see her ripping the washing from the airing stand and packing her bags. She leaves him a note and she and the children leave the family home. Half way through the song, time skips forward again and we see her beginning to cope with living the life of a single parent. She misses her husband, but she had to do what she had to do! It’s early in the morning and she’s just got the children off to school. As she drinks a quick coffee before going off to work, she opens her mail and discovers her Decree Nisi. She is still hurting from all that has happened, but this has to mark a new beginning for her.
HEY HEY HELEN Girls in the office
She now works in an office and when she arrives she tells the other girls that the Decree Nisi has come through.Her decision to leave her husband has been a topic of conversation in the typing pool for some time, but now it seems she really is going to be a free woman again. The other women question Helen on her decision, but they do, on the whole, support her in what she did. Helen has no doubt about it being the right decision, but it is still tough coping with life as a single parent and without the love she came so much to depend on.
HEAD OVER HEELS Helen
As the girls get on with their typing they continue to talk with Helen about her future. This dialogue is gently underscored with the Head Over Heels intro and the tapping of the typewriter keys is in time with the beat of the song. Someone asks Helen what she is going to do with her new found freedom, she tells her colleges that she is going to try and be more like her friend Alice. A woman who does what she wants where she wants and when she wants. She begins to tell them about Alice and the type of woman she is.As she does so, we see Alice going about her usual hectic and crazy life. She shops, she dances, she does it all! It turns into a energetic dance routine, with a troupe of young men ready to satisfy Alice’s every whim, except Alice’s own man who is less than happy being dragged along to tango classes!
INTERMEZZO NO1 Instrumental
Helen phones Alice to tell her the news. Alice sees this as the perfect reason for celebrating and says she will meet Helen at lunch time and that they should go shopping for a great new outfit for Helen’s first night as a single woman again! Alice and Helen meet and time takes another substantial skip forward. Over the next few years during numerous lunch breaks and shopping expeditions we see Helen and Alice have an interesting if sometimes lonely life. They experiment with all kinds of dress and hairstyles and maybe even one or two illegal substances. We see them hurtle through the 70’s, via punk and all things fashionable at the time, they continue through the 80’s leaving in their trail a number of harassed shop assistants and one or two shocked old age pensioners! By Helen’s 40th birthday in 1989, the children have grown up and left home for college. She is now left on her own and at the end of these whirlwind years she slumps onto her sofa – exhausted!
LIKE AN ANGEL PASSING THROUGH MY ROOM Helen
As she slumps in the sofa, we see her read a birthday card from her daughter. She pours a glass of red wine and begins to reflect on her bleak, lonely middle-aged life. She sees little chance of making it any different. She’s had no luck in love and now that she’s getting older she’s beginning to think that she will never find the right man. At the end of the song we leave her there in the glow of the dying embers. They and the tick of the grandfather clock eventually fading out as the house lights fade up and the interval begins.
ACT TWO
I’M A MARRIONETTE Helen
It is now just a few months later and the last day of the year. Helen has had various promotions at work and is now PA to the managing director. She has been given the task of organising a New Year’s Eve party for the company. She’s snowed under with the amount of work she has to do and stressed out by various problems that keep arising. She’s tired too and the last place she wants to be tonight is with people from work – all suites and ties and little cocktail dresses! We see her organise the decorating of the room, the catering, the waiters, the band etc. As the song begins we see people rushing in every direction, with Helen standing centre stage. She is totally unconvinced by the frequently uttered statement that she is “So free.” She feels totally overwhelmed by the amount of work she has to do and the direction in which her life is taking.
As the guests start to arrive we see her make the necessary gestures, shake the necessary hands and talk to the necessary people. During the first instrumental ‘dance break’ we see the guests standing around and only just managing to sway in time to the music. Helen has had enough of these fools and so she makes the necessary excuses and does what’s necessary for her to stay sane – she leaves the party and goes to a club! Alice and her friends are there and during a second extended dance break we see some real dancing!
Helen has recently been using various substances to help her get through her busy, depressing and exhausting life! We see her with a man who is obviously a dealer, but who also seems to be romantically involved with her. She gets steadily more and more drunk or stoned and begins some kind of an argument with her ‘lover’ he grabs her and slaps her across the face. This does calm her down, but not for long. Alice comes to the rescue and she takes her home. We see her try to get Helen to go to bed, but she refuses and just sits on the edge of the bed. Alice eventually says she has to go and leaves here sitting on the bed. When Alice has gone we see Helen fetching a bottle of vodka from her bedside cabinet and begin to drink it. The lights fade as we see her curl up on the bed.
HAPPY NEW YEAR Helen
The next morning we see her wake up, the bottle still in her hand. Feeling lost and pessimistic about the future, deep inside she is trying to see the bright side. She’s not doing too badly at first, but then she gives in to the urge to drink from the bottle of vodka. It being the ‘you’ in “Here we are me and you…” It’s almost empty and so she goes to find some more. We see her leave the room and hear the front door slamming shut as she heads out to find some more alcohol.
ELAINE Chorus
She ends up on the streets trying everywhere she can think of to get some alcohol. It’s still quite early and many places are shut. As she makes her way around town she finds herself receiving abuse from the ‘decent’ residents of each area, who are less than happy to find her loitering on their doorsteps. In her desperation she heads into more and more seedy areas of town. She’s in wino country now and she ends up sharing a bottle of ‘something’ with an old man on a street corner!
A few hours later we see her go back to the club. She has not been back home and is looking a complete mess. She has no money and begs her lover to give her some. He refuses and she starts shouting and screaming at him and anybody else who is in her way.
WATCH OUT Derek
The man grabs her and drags her away from the public areas of the club. He warns her that she’s in danger of really screwing up her life if she doesn’t pull her act together and do what she’s told. We see him use a bit of physical force on her again and eventually she storms out of the club, taking with her a bottle of wine from a table near the door!
SHOULD I LAUGH OR CRY Helen
Back at her flat she reflects on her life with this man who has always been more abusive than loving and she begins to realise that she herself has allowed this to happen. He’s hit her before and she never fought against it! She now feels differently and yet she feels weak and feeble and unable to make that final move of breaking away from this man and the world she has got caught up in.
THE VISITORS Helen & Chorus
She turns to drink again and opens the bottle of wine. As she hurtles into this world of paranoia and despair she begins to hallucinate and finds her whole world falling down around her. We see people dressed in black coming into her room, they have torches and the beams of light dart around the room, trying to find Helen. She tries to avoid detection, but these shadows of fear (from the past and present) eventually find her. Through all of this she has been drinking and soon she has had too much for her body to cope with and she falls into an alcoholic coma!
THE WAY OLD FRIENDS DO Alice & Helen
Someone has told Alice about the incident at the club and she has come to check up on Helen. She rings the doorbell, bangs on the door etc, but Helen is too drunk to answer. Alice eventually calls the fire brigade and they let her into the flat. She finds Helen on the sofa and eventually wakes her up. Helen is shocked and angry at first and shouts at Alice and is less than appreciative of her friend. Alice manages to calm her down and they talk. Eventually she convinces Helen that everything well be ok and that with her help she can get her life back on track again. Alice helps her up from the sofa and puts her to bed.
MOVE ON Chorus
Alice is true to her word and over the following few weeks she and Helen sign up for various self-help groups and courses. On this occasion we see them take part in a confidence and motivation class, which looks a bit like Tai Chi, but with a bit more soul. Some of the course providers are dressed in long robes and ‘chant’ in an almost gospel like way. As the session continues it becomes a fairly highly charged piece of physical therapy, full of energy, inspirational images and soul inspiring music. There are various flown pieces of white cloth, which look a bit like sails and onto these are projected images of waves, clouds, trees, sunsets and inspirational images showing the beauty and wonder of the world. These courses are a great success and Helen is well on the way to getting her life back on track.
WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE Helen & Danny
When she is fully recovered, she decides that one of the first things she must do is meet with her children’s father. He has always been great with the kids and she’s grateful for it. They meet and agree that when it comes down to it, neither of them is really to blame for how their marriage turned out. Once again time moves on just a little during the song and the third verse sees Helen, setting off on her new adventure of running her own business.
TROPICAL LOVELAND Helen & Alice
Helen has set up a small travel agency and she and Alice begin to promote the business at various places around the town and at a local trade fair. We see the two girls dressed up in their beachwear - probably not bikinis, but more likely big baggy shorts and a tea shirt with a bikini top printed onto it! They draw on their experience in the clubs to dance their way into the hearts and minds of the passing potential customers. The women shoppers have never found it so easy to convince their husband to buy them a week in Tenerife!
HAPPY HAWAII Helen
Helen eventually decides that a holiday is what she needs herself and so she books herself a well-earned holiday in Hawaii. As she drives to the airport and eventually gets on the plane, she fantasies about finding the man of her dreams on a golden beach. We see her sitting on the plane, being served her meal etc by somewhat flamboyant air stewards. As time skips on to her first day on the beach, the song also skips to a slightly different tempo.
WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME Robin & Helen
On the beach she bumps into a group of three guys having a bit of fun with a beach ball. Or to be more precise, the beach ball bumps into her! The guy that goes to retrieve the ball and apologise just happens to be Robin, her old boyfriend from back home! He is now a pilot and is in Hawaii on a stopover. They reflect on what happened to their love when they were younger. It’s obvious that they still have feelings for each other and before long they are lovers once again! This is shown on stage by the song moving from the beach to a club where they and other holidaymakers partake in a really funny dance routine. They have a great time together, make each other laugh and soon they realise there is still a strong attraction between them.
I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU Helen & Robin
It seems that these two were meant to be together and even after many years and thousands of miles between them, fate has brought them together again! Their love is rekindled in the romantic setting of Hawaii. The song is song as a duet and at the end of it we see them in silhouette against a Hawaiian sunset. As the red of the sunset turns to the blue of dawn, time moves on just a little, to the day of Helen and Robin’s wedding!
KISSES OF FIRE Helen & Chorus
As the first chorus begins, Helen and Robin rush into their wedding reception and get showered with love from their friends and family. It’s been a traditional Scottish wedding, but this is the reception and so there has to be a bit of disco! Everyone joins in and once again there is some funny dancing going on. Some of it intentionally funny, some not!
PEOPLE NEED LOVE Chorus
As always times passes quickly and it’s soon heading towards the end of the night. Everyone is feeling the love in the atmosphere and they reflect on how, all any of us really needs is love. The room is full of it and maybe the early sparks of one or two new relationships are just beginning to sparkle! The dance slowly changes from full-on disco, through a slow waltz and eventually the traditional Scottish dances from the opening number.
ARRIVAL Instrumental
These movements eventually mirror those from the prologue and along with them, time begins to hurtle forward once again. We see Helen with her new baby and later her own children bringing their children to see their grandmother! It would end with Helen’s 50th birthday party in 1999. She has come a long way since she left her home in 1966. There are many paths we can take in our lives but they will all lead us to where we are meant to be. We may not always take the quickest or easiest route, but we get to the right place in the end! Helen’s journey had many adventures, but she kept moving on until it felt like it was time to stop. For her that time has arrived and she is now where she was meant to be – in the arms of the man she loves! She never guessed that this was what was waiting down the line at the end of ‘99, but here she is. Happy, content and looking forward to the next 50 years!
The slow stylised Scottish dancing would eventually change into an up tempo curtain call dance routine, with the lights slowly fading out as the sound of the bagpipes fades to the distance.