{"id":1724,"date":"2023-05-21T16:25:49","date_gmt":"2023-05-21T16:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/debuchelon.com\/?page_id=1724"},"modified":"2025-08-30T16:03:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T16:03:10","slug":"narrative","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/debuchelon.com\/?page_id=1724","title":{"rendered":"Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Characters<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The three Acts of Welcome to the Real World<\/em> cover life before, during, and after the camp. Characters are introduced in their home setting during Act 1 and the camp scenes occur during Act 2 which comprises about half of the overall run time. We see what becomes of the characters during Act 3. Instrumentals play behind some of the dialogue but there is no sung narrative. A large back-projection screen at the rear of the stage displays pictures and screen views from the refugees’ phones at key moments in the play to assist with the narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Illy<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Illy has grown up under occupation. He leads in the first scene as he and his brother Zak search for their home-made kite next to the security fence in no man\u2019s land. He is stopped by a guard as he searches for his kite. \u201cYou\u2019re not supposed to be here\u201d, says the guard. \u201cActually it\u2019s you guys who shouldn\u2019t be here\u201d replies Illy. \u201cUntil six months ago this was my back garden\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Andrew<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Andrew is in debt and cannot pay his way no matter how hard he works. His London office job bores him. In an effort to do something useful for humanity, he decides to join a charity helping to clothe and feed refugees at the camp. Andrew travels there on occasional weekends to help out. He sings the lead part in Oh Money, telling of a life that has become a treadmill of debt repayments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hassan and Hilmi<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Hassan is in his early thirties. He\u2019s a relaxed and diplomatic man whose wisdom moderates the hot-headedness of those around him. In Act 1, he discusses with his friends the pros and cons of travelling to Europe as refugees and sings the lead part in \u201cOur Town\u201d, lamenting the economic and political difficulties of living under autocracy. Hilmi is Hassan\u2019s best friend, a national champion high jumper who dreams of Olympic gold, but his athleticism doesn\u2019t save him on the Channel crossing to England. Hassan and Kooti are asked to attend in the morgue to identify him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kooti<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Kooti is Aysha\u2019s sister and is looking forward to making a new life in the West. She dreams of going on holiday to St. Tropez which she has fallen in love with through pictures on the internet. Kooti forces herself into the dinghy which Hassan, Hilmi and Illy have \u201cborrowed\u201d to cross the English Channel one evening. When Hilmi drowns in the course of the crossing, Hassan\u2019s friendship for Kooti cools. In due course, they both find jobs in England. Kooti sings \u201cJust Another Monday\u201d while flicking through pictures of the camp on her mobile phone during a work break at the supermarket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Comedian<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Comedian is a friend of Hassan and Hilmi from a small north African town decimated by the fighting of the Arab Spring. He is a flippant twenty-something who was more popular back home than he is in the camp. In an effort to restore his reputation and bring some cheer to the camp residents, he decides to organise a comedy show. To the surprise of the audience, the satire and dry humour of the performers goes down a storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Barni<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Barni is an unemployed circus clown and animal keeper who knows and cares about wildlife. He meets Elisha, an Iranian feminist, while she is digging a vegetable patch at the camp. Barni is not particularly impressed. Elisha tells him that it is \u201d \u2026 an experiment to show the power of gender roles in disadvantaged communities\u201d. \u201cAre you kidding? In a place like this?\u201d, asks Barni. The two begin a prickly dialogue on gender issues, but this soon develops into a discussion on animal rights. Suddenly it\u2019s Elisha who doesn\u2019t respect Barni\u2019s views but they eventually realise that they have something in common. Barni tells Elisha that he wrote a song about the animals in his circus. “Everybody is writing songs these days and most of them are awful”, says Elisha. Barni perseveres and sings Animal Anthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vladimir<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Vladimir is a battle-hardened middle-aged man from the former Soviet States who has been accompanied on most of his rail journey westwards by Barni. Vladimir has left his mother alone in her flat in Ukraine and is tormented by his decision. He talks to her by phone regularly and promises to bring her to the West as soon as he gets residency. However, time is not on his side. His mother passes away while he is in the camp. Vladimir returns home but misses the funeral. He stands in his mother’s apartment by the hallway chair where she used to sit making phone calls. In silence, he journeys through her memorabilia, the audience see pictures on the rear screen of the family in their younger years, the funeral invitation card with the words \u201cbeloved wife of Boris and mother of Vladimir\u201d, and a picture of his mother on her wedding day. His tour of the hallway brings him to the piano in the alcove. He sits, lifts the lid, and sings Twilight Years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Asad and Quiet Boy<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Asad has arrived after a difficult journey from Afghanistan. In his late twenties, and a martial arts specialist, he has styled himself as the camp guard, out to protect the weak and innocent from the dangers of less worthy residents. He is followed everywhere by Quiet Boy, some 14 years of age, who has arrived from Africa on his own. Quiet Boy constantly holds a teddy bear and sits side stage in all of his scenes saying nothing. Late in Act 2, Mr. Balladour arrives with a junior officer to escort Quiet Boy to a boys home prior to deportation. To the shock of those around him, Quiet Boy now erupts to tell the story of the murder of his immediate family during the convulsions of the civil war in his home country. He pulls out a gun from the teddy bear, points it at Mr. Balladour, and asks him whether he has ever known real fear. The gun is genuine but not loaded. Quiet Boy breaks down and cries, the junior officer takes the gun from him, and Aysha comes to comfort him. All watch in silence as Quiet Boy sings Monsters in My Dreams. In Act 3, Asad and Quiet Boy visit Aysha in her new apartment. Quiet Boy is so happy to be in a warm place with a TV and a hot bath, but Asad tells him that “there won’t be the two of us anymore”. “Oh?” asks Quiet Boy, looking concerned. “There’s gonna be three of us, a new mum and dad, a proper family for you”, says Asad. Aysha comes from the kitchen to stand by Asad’s side. The three hug each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Repair Man<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Repair Man, Mr. Okasi, is a wise figure, an older man who used to be a judge before fleeing his country under political pressure. It is now, as a repairer of mobile phones in his small shop, that he meets Illy and befriends him. Soon, the others come to value and respect Mr. Okasi for his wisdom but when they ask him for solutions to the world’s problems, they realise that he is as confounded as they are. One evening, Illy tells Mr. Okasi that he left his parents unannounced and that they have no idea where he is. Mr. Okasi counsels him to think of what they’re going through and make contact. Illy looks at himself in a large rusty mirror by the entrance and sings Take a Look at Me.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mr. Fix It<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Fix It is a rogue, there to make money, promoting himself as a supplier of all things difficult-to-come-by. His offerings include passports, mobile phones, drugs and boats across the English channel. Mr. Fix It is an unreliable exploiter of others, and he knows it. So does the Repair Man, who mends mobile phones in bulk for Mr. Fix It but hardly ever gets the promised payment. “Boats to the bottom of the English channel” jibes the Repair Man in one of their frequent arguments. Mr. Fix It sets out his stall in the song of the same name in the middle of Act 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Characters The three Acts of Welcome to the Real World cover life before, during, and after the camp. Characters are introduced in their home setting during Act 1 and the camp scenes occur during Act 2 which comprises about half of the overall run time. We see what becomes of the characters during Act 3. …<\/p>\n

Characters<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"enquiry@kreatoc.com","author_link":"https:\/\/debuchelon.com\/?author=1"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Characters The three Acts of Welcome to the Real World cover life before, during, and after the camp. Characters are introduced in their home setting during Act 1 and the camp scenes occur during Act 2 which comprises about half of the overall run time. We see what becomes of the characters during Act 3.…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debuchelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debuchelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debuchelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debuchelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debuchelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1724"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/debuchelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2469,"href":"https:\/\/debuchelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1724\/revisions\/2469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debuchelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}