Bradley Walker

Gramma's Story - [One/two actors - Runtime ~ 15 minutes]

 

Radioplay, or minimalistic stage piece.

 

This is a short sweet story that does what it says on the tin.

 

Before her Grandma passed away, Kea's Grandma says that she's always seen a gift for stories inside Kea and if she doesn't tell one good one before she dies, out of spite, she will be miserable up in heaven.

 

Unfortunately, she does die and Kea is still struggling to find the right story to tell until she thinks of the perfect one - her Grandma's life.

 

The story talks about Kea's Grandma, her knack for tales, the village she lived in, the day she met the love of her life and, of course, how she made him wait. It's cute and sweet until the story focused on her Grandma as she begins to grow old and the village turns from a fairytale setting to the epicentre of gang culture.

Kea's Grandma, now an old woman decides to do something about it, Kea's gradfather did not want to. As her grandmother leaves the house to face the violence, she hears a gunshot. She travels to the sound to find her husband shot dead. He had left the house to find her, worried for her safety and tried to take the gun off the boy. He shot him in his panic. He's only a child. Instead of getting angry, she tells the boy to meet her on the beach and to bring everyone else he knows.

 

Once there, she tells a story, and another, and another and another until all the gangs in her village are sitting engrossed in her, all their thirst for violence has been quenched by this enigmatic old lady's love of stories.

 

It ends on a bittersweet note, but does exactly what it's supposed to - builds the cute and tough world of a strong woman.

 

This can be a radioplay, as it was initially performed. However, I think it would be wonderful to have a young actress and an elder actress on stage interacting with one another, even though the Grandma is deceased; it would fit well in a Short Plays night/event or as a warm-up for a longer play dealing with similar themes.