Ernest, the boy -- Ernest

The girl -- Tanny

Teacher, Miss Chung -- Agnes

Mother -- Mei Mei

Classmate (on phone) -- Kelvin

Old woman -- Nico

Other classmates -- Kelly, Ivy

Screenplay: Ernest

Light:

Music:

Costumes/props:

Prologue

The door…entry to the unknown world. It separates two entirely different worlds.

The door…entry to the world with chances

The door…the symbol of thinking and creativity

Scene I At home 7:00am

(a clock alarms, and Ernest wakes up)

Ernest: Oh - Let's begin the day. (He goes to the dining room)

(to mum) Good morning, mum.

Mum: Good morning! Today we have sausages!

Ernest: Sausages again? I want to try tuna sandwiches!

Mum: Yes! We have sausages every day and you like them very much right? Enjoy breakfast and go to school. Don't be late!

Ernest: (finishes the meal) I've done. Byebye!

Mum: Goodbye! (Ernest leaves)

Scene II School 7:30am

(Ernest enters)

Kelly: Hi Ernest!

Ernest: Hello! How are you?

Kelly: As usual! Hey Ivy!

Ivy: Hey! Good morning!

Ernest: Good morning Ivy! What are we going to have lunch today?

Ivy: Come on! We go there every day! Have you forgotten?

Ernest: OH! Of course not! (with laughers) But we go always there because we like it, not because we went there in the past and so we have to go there forever right? Haha~

Ivy and Kelly: okok…don't argue with you!

(The bell rings and teacher comes. All stand up)

Teacher: Good morning class.

All: (Stand up) Good morning Miss Chung.

Ernest: (Sit down, Take out a book)( Thinking) Open your books. Page

Teacher: Ok. Open your books…..Page 10, the rules of…….

Ernest: (the same every day)

(Time passes to 4:00pm)

Teacher: That's all for today. Goodbye class.

All: (Stand up) Goodbye Miss Chung.

Ivy: Goodbye Kelly and Ernest.

Kelly: Byebye

Ernest: See you tomorrow.

Scene III Street 4:15pm

(Ernest walks along the street and meets a girl. The girls is walking towards Ernest and passes away)

Scene IV Home 9:30pm

Ernest: (to mum) I have finished my study!

Mum: OKOK. Don't sleep after ten.

(Ernest picks up the phone and dials)

Ernest: Hi. Kelvin?

Kelvin: Yeah! Let ‘s see…9:30! You are Ernest , right? How's your day?

Ernest: Just ok. Experiencing the same every day. Having school…doing homework…studying…and picking up the phone just like now…oh yeah! And having sausages every day too!

Kelvin: Haha ~~~ So funny you are!

Ernest: No…Life is so boring! Why do we have the same thing every day?

Kelvin: OH? What's the problem with you? We have been living in this pattern for 18 years! We do not need to face any difficulties and obstacles. We do not need to face challenges and make important decisions. We just follow the pattern. All of us are living in a pattern ! From the past to eternity, we will be like this! What's wrong with you?

Ernest: I've met a girl today…on my way home

Kelvin: A girl? I meet many girls on street every day!

Ernest: No..nono…I mean the one I am interested

Kelvin: mmm….You mean you fall in love with her?

Ernest: I think so

Kelvin: It is strange! I don't know…I haven't experienced that. But do you listen to what Miss Chung always says? We should start dating while you are at secondary school level. Everyone likes that! We should not be interested in any girls at the moment. You should not get such a kind of feeling!

Ernest: Yeah I know…but I do get that feeling!

Kelvin: Don't think of her again! You should not fall in love with her at that time. No one will love others at the age like you!

Ernest: Why?

Kelvin: I don't know. It's the pattern.

Ernest: Pattern? Everyone belongs to the same pattern! Is that life?

Kelvin: Sure! That is a beautiful life! Why don't you enjoy your life with no ups and downs

Mum: (voice) Hey! It's ten o'clock now!

Ernest: (to Kelvin) Alright. I have to go to bed now….Tomorrow we will have sausages again!

Kelvin: OK. You like it right?

Ernest: Actually not. Others say it is delicious and I should like it. So I like it. In fact, I don’t

Kelvin: Don't think anymore! Ok? See you!

Ernest: See you!

Scene V Home Next day 7:00am

(The clock alarms, Ernest wakes up and goes to the dining room. He has the sausages and goes to school)

Scene VI School 7:30am

Kelly: Hi Ernest

Ernest: Hello

Kelly: As usual. Hey Ivy!

Ivy: Hey! Good morning!

Ernest: Good morning Ivy.

(The teacher enters and all stand up)

Teacher: Good morning class.

All: Good morning Miss Chung!

Teacher: Open your book…Page 13, the regulations of…….

(Time passes to 4:00pm again)

Teacher: Goodbye class.

All: Goodbye Miss Chung

Ivy: Goodbye Kelly and Ernest.

Kelly: Byebye

(Ernest says nothing but goes to the side of Miss Chung. Ivy and Kelly are surprised. Everyone leaves, all save Ernest)

Ernest: Miss Chung, can I ask you something?

Teacher: (Surprising) yes?

Ernest: I…I don't know…it is so strange…I fall in love with a girl

Teacher: What are you saying?

Ernest: I love a girl.

Teacher: mmm…Don't be naughty! You should know that you will get such a feeling when you study at university ! Now go home and finish your homework!

Ernest: (silent for a while) Where will the DOOR lead us to?

Teacher: The DOOR?

Ernest: Yes. The DOOR!

Ernest: But there are choices!

Teacher: Choices can be bad . I don't know why you are so interested in that DOOR.

Ernest: Yes. I notice it since I was born

Teacher: Alright….alright. It is very late now. Go home now and think no more about girls and the DOOR, but your homework.

Ernest: Ok. Goodbye

Teacher: Byebye

Scene VII Street 4:15pm

(At the front door of school, Ernest meets the girl again. Ernest takes the opportunity and knocks the girl lightly while she is reading an articles)

Ernest: I'm sorry. OH….hey! Do you remember me? I am….I am EEE!

Ernest: NO! I have met you before!

Girl: I don't think so. I remember if I have had. Why are you here? I have not seen you before! So I think you should not be here right now!

Girl: Yes. But you should now that at my age, I will not know more new guys, especially on the street! I should meet more people after three years. I think you are under twenty-four right? You also should not meet me! I do know the rule!

Ernest: Yes! Sure…the rule….the rule for everyone…the rule for glory…the rule for eternity…the irrevocably rule…the impregnable rule…the rule for life…

Girl: Yes. (She leaves)

Ernest: …the rule with no sensation.

Scene VIII Home 10pm

Mum: (voice) Stop chatting and go to bed!

Ernest: I haven't phoned others!

Mum: O…OK. Sleep now then!

(Lights are gone. Ernest stands up and leaves home)

Scene IX Street 10:15pm

(Ernest walks near the DOOR. When he is about to open the DOOR, an old woman shouted)

Old: Stop! What's the hell you are doing!?

Ernest: I want to open the DOOR.

Old: Young man! Go back! You will regret if you walk out of the DOOR. You can't return!

Ernest: I have no intention to return.

Old: Stupid boy! Do you know what does the world outside like?

Ernest: Sure. It is the world without a pattern.

Old: Of course! So why do you still want to go?

Ernest: I can choose my life there.

Old: Don't be silly. You have to make many decisions. You will feel trouble! You have a lot of alternatives. Following the old rules is the only means to live happily! Why can't you be a well-disciplined boy?

Ernest: Having choices is not bad. (silent for a while) I have been locked up for twenty years! I haven't got my own feeling, my own thought. I see no changes in these twenty years! I can't say my own words . I even cannot have such ideas! Old customs, may be good or bad. Why should we just follow it without thinking? In this world, others tell me this is happiness, this will make me upset……. Why? Because the ancestors told us and we should follow their feelings! I haven't got my own sensation! How can you stand here? Don't you think this world is boring? Don't you think we are living in a world without creativity? Don't you think we are living without hope? I have been locked up for twenty years and I have to get out of this!

Old: You will regret!

Ernest: I will go to a new world.

(Ernest opens the DOOR and disappears)

~ THE END ~

The stage