CAMLIN
VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY
SCRIPT -FIRST DRAFT
1
Voyage of Discovery
First Draft
Cast
Shanty Man
Gull 1- Beaky
Gull 2 - Admiral
Lifeboat Girl
Finn
Birdwatcher Finch
Keeper of the Eels
Ramshanklin
Chorus –Fishermen’s Friends
Scene 1
[Finn sits front of stage writing frantically on a piece of paper. Music ALT J Builds slowly.
A chorus of voices can be heard underneath the music building to a crescendo
like a storm, pressure is mounting as the boy struggles to get his words down
and at the end of the chorus of commands he rolls the paper, places it in a
bottle and rises to his feet holding it high in the air.]
Listen
2
Learn
Read
Write
Develop
Repeat
Listen
Learn
Read
Write
Develop
Repeat
Listen
Learn
Read
Write
Develop
Repeat
A bright future
Master of your Destiny
Leading by Example
Working hard
Reaching for the stars
Picking
Choosing
Rushing
Finding
3
Deciding
Broadening your horizons
SOS
SOS
SOS
SOS
SOS
[FINN HOLDS UP HIS MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE AS THE SEAGULLS CIRCLE,
CHORUS LEAVE –Albatross Music –Seagulls swoop in on Finn’s Fish and chips,
from either side of the stage, dressed as World War 2 pilots]
Scene 2
Gull 1-Blimey, look at that, half a fish, I’m having that!
Gull 2 –What’s that?
Gull 1- What’s it look like!
Gull 2- Give us a bite!
Gull 1 –Clear off, get your own!
Gull 2- No, I want that one!
Gull 1- Touch it and I’ll peck your eye out!
Gull 2- Go sit on a lamppost beaky
Gull 1 –Who you calling beaky, string legs!
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Gull 2- Don’t push me!
Finn –Why don’t you share it –I’ve had enough…
[Seagulls realise there is someone else there and circle him]
Gull 1- Did he speak?
Gull 2- What did he say?
Finn –I said you can share it
Gull 1- We don’t do sharing
Gull 2- We sort ourselves out round here
Gull 1- It’s got my name on it
Gull 2- Since when
Finn –I think you’ll find it’s mine
Gull 1- Finders, keepers
Gull 2 – Losers, Weepers
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Finn – [He produces two plastic forks]
Sharers, Carers
[Gulls take one each suspiciously and begin to tuck in suspiciously as Finn holds
the newspaper in between them]
Gull 1- Could do with more vinegar
Gull 2- Bit of tartar sauce
Gull 1- Do we know you?
Gull 2- Have we had the pleasure
Finn –I think I’d remember
Gull 1-Anything to drink?
Gull 2- All that salt, we need a drink
Finn –The bottle is empty
Gull 1- No, it’s not
Gull 2- I thought you said sharing was caring
Gull 1- What’s in it
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Gull 2- Hope it’s not fizzy stuff, that sends me boogaloo!
Finn – A message
Gull 1- A message in a bottle
Gull 2- Nice idea
Gull 1- Ever heard of post
Gull 2- Pigeon post
Gull 1- Eh, we are much superior birds
Gull 2- Can’t deliver stuff though
Gull 1- Says who
Finn –No it’s fine, I was just writing some stuff down
Gull 1- Address
Gull 2- Roughly
Finn –No, I didn’t intend to deliver it
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Gull 1- We insist
Gull 2- One good turn deserves another
Finn –I just wanted to express myself, seems a bit silly now
Write down my dreams, dreams for the future
Gull 1- I need an address
Gull 2- A postcode would help
Finn –I don’t want it delivered, I don’t think anybody really cares
Gull 1- The tide is out
Gull 2- There’s a strong wind
Gull 1- We’d be quicker
Gull 2- [Swipes it out of the bottle] Give it here
Finn –It doesn’t matter
Gull 1- One good turn deserves another
Gull 2- We’ll make sure it gets there
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Finn –Give it back
Gull 1- Up, up and away
Gull 2- Over and out!
[Finn tries to run after them and grab the letter, he has clearly changed his
mind]
Scene 3
[Lifeboat Girl bumps into Finn as he returns to pick up his newspaper
wrapping]
Lifeboat Girl –You should watch where you’re going
Finn –Sorry
Lifeboat Girl –So you should be
Finn –I think you’ll find you bumped into me
Lifeboat Girl –I’m in a rush
Finn –Everyone’s in a rush these days
Lifeboat Girl–I need to find my dad, give him this before he goes
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Finn – Lunch?
Lifeboat Girl –Lunch and dinner, he may be gone awhile
Finn –Where is he going?
Lifeboat Girl –The Moon!
Finn –Very funny, you know what I mean…
Lifeboat Girl- To the island,
Finn – Fishing?
Lifeboat Girl – [Pause as she looks at Finn] I don’t know you
Finn –No you don’t
Lifeboat Girl –Everybody knows everybody round here
Finn –Well you don’t know me
Lifeboat Girl –Dad! Dad! Wait up!
Finn – Is that his boat?
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Lifeboat Girl – Dad, you forgot your lunch.
Shanty Man –What would I do without you?
Lifeboat Girl – I could always come with you
Shanty Man –You know that’s not possible, who’s your friend?
Lifeboat Girl –Don’t know, I found him on the dock talking to the gulls
Shanty Man –Could be doing a lot worse? Was that bottle empty when you
found it?
Finn – Yes, I mean no, but not full of wine and I didn’t empty it
Shanty Man- Talking to birds, an empty wine bottle, friends with my daughter…
not what’s a man to think
Finn –Sorry, I’m not making much sense
Lifeboat Girl –He says sorry a lot
Finn –It had a message in it
Shanty Man –A message you say, for you?
Finn –Not for me. I was sending it.
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Lifeboat Girl –To who?
Shanty Man –It’s been a long time since I’ve used that form of communication,
not the most reliable and you never know who might get their hands on it
Finn –I want to get it back
Lifeboat Girl –Changed your mind?
Finn – It’s private, I thought I needed some help
Shanty Man – Bit of an SOS?
Finn – You could say that…
Lifeboat girl –The Gulls took it
Shanty Man- They’ll have headed to Rams Island, that’s where they head to sit
in the sun
Lifeboat Girl- We’ll take you if you like
Shanty Man –I see what you’re up to
Lifeboat Girl –Please dad, he’s desperate
Shanty Man –You mean you’re desperate to get out on this boat
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Finn –You’d do that, for me?
Lifeboat Girl –He’d do it for anybody, he’s a sucker for a story, don’t say you
haven’t been warned
Finn –Warned?
Shanty Man- They don’t call me Shanty Man for nothing
Step aboard young man, it’s on my route
Lifeboat Girl [Coughs loudly]
Shanty Man–Oh bad cough, better stay at home…
Lifeboat Girl – You need me, you can’t do this on your own
Finn –What do I do?
Shanty Man – Sit tight, it’s going to be a rough one
[Music /Fisherman’s Blues –The Waterboy’s – a series of images created to
show the activity surrounding the boat –Shanty Man/Camlin/Old Man of The
Sea]
Shanty Man [Centre stage shouting the commands with a series of images and
responses]
Heave Ho and Away we go!
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Heave Ho and Away we go!
All Hands on deck
Ahoy Captain
Climb the rigging!
Scrub the decks
Cook is coming
Man overboard
Sharks Alive
Too much rum
Heave Ho and Away we go!
Heave Ho and away we go!
Port
Starboard
Rattle them winches
Raise that mast
Man the lifeboat, Man the ship
Heh ho and away we go!
Heh ho and away we go!
SHANTY MAN – Listen to me and you’ll be fine,
I think there’s a storm coming, you’d best put on a lifejacket…
FINN –I’m not sure about this
LIFEBOAT GIRL – Well it’s a bit late for that now
FINN – Don’t you get frightened out here?
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SHANTY MAN – There’s nothing to be frightened of, it’s nature, it’s awesome
FINN – But the sea, it’s so powerful, so vast, so un controllable
LIFEBOAT GIRL- You don’t always have to be in control
FINN – I’m not in control of anything, this is just the icing on the cake
SHANTY MAN – So that’s why you’re a stowaway on my boat, trying to gain
some control
FINN –I just need to get to the island
LIFEBOAT GIRL – Get your life jacket on, it’s going to get rough and I don’t
fancy having a man overboard
FINN – Where’s the lifeboat? Just in case
SHANTYMAN- You are looking at it
FINN –What? You?
LIFEBOAT GIRL –Us, we’ll jump in after you, if needs be
SHANTYMAN –There’s a whistle on that thing, blow it and we’ll find you
LIFEBOAT GIRL –You’ve gone green
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[Beaky and Admiral fly back towards the boat]
BEAKY – It’s rough out there
ADMIRAL – Rocking the boat dude
BEAKY- Ruffled my feathers
ADMIRAL –Bet you’re regretting that fish supper!
BEAKY –Looking a bit green around the gills
ADMIRAL –A bit peaky
SHANTYMAN –Perch up, hitch a ride, rest your weary wings my friends
FINN – Is this a dream
BEAKY-Nope
ADMIRAL- Your worst nightmare
LIFEBOAT GIRL –Is there much out there
BEAKY – Plenty, if you know where to look
LIFEBOAT GIRL- We need a good trawl
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SHANTYMAN –It’s been awhile, money is tight
FINN- I don’t mean to be rude but can I have my letter back and then we can
just turn this boat around and I can go back to what I was doing before you
good people forced me onto this bucket
LIFEBOAT GIRL- How rude
BEAKY- How ungrateful
ADMIRAL- How funny!
BEAKY- He wants it back
ADMIRAL- He was going to put it in a bottle and give it to the sea
BEAKY- We delivered it
ADMIRAL –Gave it to the big man, he’ll know what to do
FINN- Who is the Bigman?
BEAKY- Ramshanklin, the keeper of the island
ADMIRAL – You seemed worried
BEAKY –Always happy to help
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FINN- Pesky seagulls, always sticking their noses in where they aren’t wanted
LIFEBOAT GIRL- Must have been important this letter
SHANTYMAN –A cry for help was it? An SOS
FINN –How did you know? Did you read it?
BEAKY –Didn’t think of that
ADMIRAL- We’re not the brightest birds
BEAKY – We are well intended
ADMIRAL – Don’t really think things through
FINN – I just needed to get a few things off my chest and now the whole
worlds going to know about it
SHANYTMAN- Is that such a bad thing
FINN- Not coping is very uncool
LIFEBOAT GIRL- Sinking this boat would be very uncool, now could we
concentrate on working together and getting through this storm
[MUSIC –STORM –MOVEMENT SEQUENCE/ OLD MAN OF THE SEA RISES UP]
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SCENE 5
SHANTYMAN –What a force of nature!
LIFEBOAT GIRL- We did it, kept her afloat
SHANTYMAN-We just need to work out where we are, we seem to have been
blown off course
LIFEBOAT GIRL –I can see the island
FINN-Can I look yet?
SHANTYMAN- Sorry about this Finn, I only meant to take you to the island and
straight back, this is a bit of a voyage of discovery my friend
FINN –Beats school
LIFEBOAT GIRL – What’s that, to the left, looks like someone’s in trouble
FINN –Please no detours, let’s just get that letter back and get back on dry land
SHANTYMAN –You can’t ignore a cry for help, what kind of person does that,
give me that rope
LIFEBOAT GIRL –We all need a bit of help, even me …
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FINN –This is some adventure
[Birdman Finch climbs aboard]
FINCH –I am much obliged, what a storm, I was hanging on to my binoculars
and that branch for all I was worth, wasn’t sure if I was going to make it
SHANTYMAN –No problem, let me do the introductions, this is my daughter
Faye and our friend Finn
FINCH- And you are?
LIFEBOAT GIRL- That’s my dad otherwise known as Shantyman
SHANTYMAN- Stories and fishing are my game
FINCH – [Takes out a notebook] I’ve heard of you, legend has it that you know
the secret of Rams Island, this is nearly as exciting as watching the birds, please
to meet you Shanty man
FINN-Please, sit down –I don’t want to end up overboard
FINCH-Sorry young man, it’s not every day you get to meet a legend
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FINN- Legend?
FINCH –Well according to the locals he’s the real deal
FINN –What do you mean?
FINCH –He’s got special powers, saved Rams Island, and restored the fishing
community, banished …
SHANTYMAN- He’s also got very good hearing
FINCH-Fascinating wildlife around these parts, very advanced, would you
believe me if I told you I saw two seagulls eating with forks, unbelievable…
LIFEBOAT GIRL- Are we going to cast the lines, we can’t go home empty
handed
FINCH –The lough is empty
LIFEBOAT GIRL- Since when?
FINCH –It’s strange, the fisherman say it’d eerie, they have returned night after
night with empty lines
FINN –That’s why those seagulls were so hungry
LIFEBOAT GIRL- Will we turn the boat around?
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FINN –What about my message? I need to get that bottle back
SHANTYMAN- Have some faith my friends, let nature take its course, I can
hear it in the wind
FINCH- What’s in the wind?
SHANTYMAN – Stories, they get carried along in the wind, passed from ear to
ear, shore to shore
LIFEBOAT GIRL- And he’s off…
SHANTYMAN –Where’s that lunch? You always pack enough to sink a ship!
FINN –Not funny after that storm
FINCH – I’m quite peckish actually, those seagulls, great actors, managed to get
me to part with my lunch with their starving seagull routine, I fell for it, parted
with the lot
SHANTYMAN –Stories, that’s what makes us who we are, listen to them, share
them and tell them again, keep them alive so we never forget…
FINN- He’s deep your dad
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FINCH- As deep as the lough
LIFEBOAT GIRL –Not really, goes a bit mad when he’s hungry
FINCH-Like the seagulls
FINN –Tell us a story Shanty man
SHANTYMAN –A story you say, what shall it be?
LIFEBOAT GIRL- I did warn you. Tell them about the lough, the last time it was
empty
SHANTYMAN – and Ramshanklin and The Keeper of the Eels
FINCH –Oh I think I’d better make myself comfortable for this, biscuit anyone?
BEAKY AND ADMIRAL- Don’t mind if we do!
SCENE 6
SHANTYMAN- This Lough deserves ultimate respect, conditions change
abruptly and often a morning that starts calm and peaceful can end with angry
clouds and turbulent waters and misty conditions, always be prepared for the
unexpected
FINCH –No wonder it’s described as Ulster’s Inland Sea
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BEAKY- Who’s telling this story?
SHANTYMAN- This particular morning I set sail the conditions were perfect
The crew were in fine form, one of those mornings that it felt great to be alive
We were all working and singing in harmony, sailing smoothly along, without a
care in the world, but I felt uneasy something wasn’t right, the conditions were
perfect but something wasn’t right…
[BEAKY AND ADMIRAL TAKE ON THE ROLES OF THE FISHERMEN]
MATE 1- Shanty, I think you’d better come and take a look at this
MATE 2- It’s the lines Shanty, nothing, absolutely nothing…
SHANTY – And true enough there was nothing…we had spent hours casting the
lines by hand yet there was nothing
FINN –Sounds frustrating
SHANTY –Then there was a tug on the lines, an invisible tug pulling us yet there
was nothing on the lines?
FINN –Spooky
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MATE 1- Shanty the boat is being pulled off course
MATE 2 –There must be a current, can we cut free
SHANTY-But there was nothing to cut free from and the tug and the swell
began to pull us forward, the boat had a life of it’s own
Mate 1- Man overboard!
Mate 2- Man overboard!
SHANTY –I jumped in, no time to think it through, I had to go after him, and
then that’s when everything began to slow down…
[Music –Harp –Keeper of The Eels / Souls of the Lough]
FINN –You’re having a laugh
MATE 1 –It was strangely calm underwater
MATE 2- A beautiful light, a green blue glowed and shimmered
SHANTY –It was like a warm current embracing us and leading us through and
we surfaced a little way away from the boat
MATE 1- The was a haunting tune, a harp, whispering on the wind
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MATE 2- And a sea of voices whispering names of the past
SHANTY –Names we knew from the shores, names form our past, the people
of our community
MATE 1- A roll call of the people who had fished on these lough shores and
who had made this community their home
SHANTY –It wasn’t eerie, it was strangely calming, a reminder of who we were
and why we were here
MATE 1 –Reminding us of our place in the grand scale of things
MATE 2- And why we were here…
[A SERIES OF BLACK AND WHITE IMAGES OF FACES FROM THE PAST /YEAR 8
CHORUS –ROLL CALL UNDER THE HARP MUSIC WITH RIBBONS MOVEMENT TO
REPRESENT SEAWEED –‘TO BUILD A HOME –CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA’]
Henry Cardwell
Mary Ann Brankin
Robert Cardwell
Jane Farr
Isabella Crossey
Edward Moore
William McGarrell
John McGarry
Rose McErlean
Patrick O’Neill
Maud Farr
Thomas Cardwell
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Crossey
McKavannagh
Nelson’s and
Moores
Donnelly’s and
O’Dowds
A sense of community
A love of the land
A love of the lough
A love of one another
Where people and place
Respected each other
Lived in harmony
Where Irish and English
Protestant and Catholic
Raised families together
And respected the Lough
KEEPER OF THE EELS – We have had enough of this dredging and plundering
our shores, where is the kindness, the care …?
SHANTYMAN –I have met a lot of strong and powerful women in my time but
this one, well she meant business
KEEPER OF THE EELS – It’s time to reconsider your place in the grand scale of
things, your forefathers didn’t have it easy, and they worked hard to fish this
lough, with care and consideration…
MATE 1 – She fixed us with a stare
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MATE 2- With a steely glare
SHANTYMAN- I haven’t considered my place
KEEPER OF THE EELS – Nor the lough, this method of fishing this taking but
giving nothing back, this Lough will be empty and the people empty to, soulless
if you don’t consider your methods, I will make sure of that
MATE 1- No eels?
MATE 2 –No fish?
SHANTYMAN –No community?
KEEPER OF THE EELS – Empty with just the whistling in your hair and the voices
of the past, whistling their despair at the loss of what they took time to build
SHANTYMAN –Kindness to the creatures, kindness to our own
MATE 1- Simple really
MATE 2- A lesson in life
KEEPER OF THE EELS – I will be watching and waiting
SHANTYMAN – And no sooner had she appeared she had gone and we were
back on the deck with our lines full of eels
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FINCH – Have you seen her since?
SHANTYMAN –Flashes of her in The Lough from time to time, from the corner
of my eye
LIFEBOAT GIRL – I saw her, glinting and glimmering under the surface
FINN –Yeah
LIFEBOAT GIRL – There’d been a fight, at school, I’d let rip, lost my temper, told
some girls what I thought of them, dad brought me out on the boat, I was
working the sails, pulling and stomping around the place
SHANTYMAN –Nearly tipped the thing over in her temper
LIFEBOAT GIRL–When I caught a glimpse of a face in the lough and I heard a
whispering of the wind, made me think …
FINCH- It’s a fascinating story, so much history so much folklore, I like to think
it’s true
SHANTYMAN –Believe me it’s true
FINN –Look I don’t mean to be rude but could we just get to that island, get my
message in bottle back and then I can get back to school…
LIFEBOAT GIRL –Why do you need it back? It’s just words, whose going to read
it? It can’t be that important…
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FINN –It’s my hopes and my fears, I wrote them down, I didn’t mean to let
them go, they’re out there –don’t you understand?
SHANTYMAN – Words on the wind my friend, we can get them back but don’t
you feel better they’re out there, instead of bottling them up?
BEAKY – I’m feeling bad now
ADMIRAL –We were only trying to help
BEAKY – Should have left well enough alone
SHANTYMAN –Lead the way my feathered friends
ADMIRAL- To Rams Island, we took it to the caretaker of The Island,
Ramshanklin, a kinder man you couldn’t meet
FINCH –Such an adventure
FINN – Such a voyage
SHANTYMAN –It’s going to be a stormy ride…
SCENE 7- RAMS ISLAND
[MUSIC –HEART STRINGS /DANIEL HEPINSTALL –THEY SAIL THE BOAT, THE
SEAGULLS ACCOMPANYING THEM ALONG SIDE THE BOAT]
SHANTYMAN- So this is it, Rams Island
FINN –Can you go and get my note please, I just want to get it and go home
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BEAKY –Not that simple
ADMIRAL –Thing is I can’t remember what it looks like
LIFEBOAT GIRL –It’s a piece of paper with some writing on it
FINN –Have you lost it? You mean I’ve come all this way for nothing
BEAKY –We haven’t lost it
ADMIRAL- Not exactly
BEAKY –More like misplaced it
FINCH –Amongst all these
FINN- Wow, that’s a lot of bottles
SHANTYMAN- A lot of SOS’s
LIFEBOAT GIRL- A lot of cries for help
RAMSHANKLIN- Welcome friends, are we looking for something
FINCH –Well I never, it’s him, the caretaker of the island, Ramshanklin, I didn’t
think he existed, I thought it was a myth
FINN –This trip just gets weirder and weirder
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SHANTYMAN- Permission to land?
RAMSHANKLIN – Always Shantyman
SHANTYMAN- Coming ashore
BEAKY-Ramshanklin, we have lost something
ADMIRAL- Maybe you could help?
BEAKY –We left a message here, a message in a bottle
ADMIRAL –An SOS, this boys cry for help
RAMSHANKLIN –Can’t he speak for himself?
Lifeboat girl-He’s had plenty to say up to now.
BEAKY –He wants it back
ADMIRAL- Didn’t want it delivered
RAMSHANKLIN –A lot of things end up washed up on my shores
FINCH –Look at all these bottles, there must be hundreds of them
SHANTYMAN-From all around the world by the looks of them
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LIFEBOAT- It’s like a one man recycling centre
RAMSHANKLIN- SOS’s, Cries for help, I read them all, they don’t fall on deaf
ears or get lost at sea, there’s always help, you only have to ask
FINN- You mean you answer all these? That’s impossible, how could you help
all these people?
RAMSHANKLIN –Sometimes reading them is enough, listening when someone
needs a listening ear
BEAKY –I like to think they take comfort in each other
ADMIRAL- All these bottles, all these letters
BEAKY- They make a beautiful sound in the wind
ADMIRAL- Like the voices of the past, like the voices of the future
BEAKY- All their troubles whistling in the wind
ADMIRAL- All their cries for help realised out to the ocean
RAMSHANkLIN- Your worries have gone, your bottle is empty, the pressure
realised
FINN –I do feel strangely better, not so stressed
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RAMSHANKIN- It’s the journey my friend, the voyage you have taken
FINCH –We’ve been welcomed aboard this boat, made to feel at home, fed
and entertained
BEAKY –I’m sorry about the letter
ADMIRAL- Not such a wasted journey
BEAKY –Would you like your bottle back?
ADMIRAL-Or would you like to leave it here for safe keeping
LIFEBOAT GIRL- It can keep mine company
FINN- You sent an SOS?! I find that hard to believe
LIFEBOAT GIRL –It’s not easy being perfect!!
FINN –Oh please.
LIFEBOAT GIRL- Leave it, you can always come back
SHANTYMAN- Thank you Ramshanklin, may the wind always be at your back
RAMSHANKLIN- And the sun in your face…
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SHANTYMAN- I think it’s time we headed for home and got this young man
back to shore
RAMSHANKLIN- Cast out your nets, the lough will reward you well
SHANTYMAN –The fish will fill our nets
LIFEBOAT GIRL – Cast out our dreams
FINCH –Follow the birds as they soar high in the sky, you can fly as high as your
dreams will carry you my friend,
FINN –This journey has showed me anything is possible, that you are never
alone
[ALL CLIMB ABOARD THE BOAT, READY TO DEPART, RAMSHANKLIN WAVES
THEM OFF ASSISTED BY BEAKY AND ADMIRAL]
SHANTYMAN –Home my friend, let’s get you back to dry land where you can
carry on with this voyage
LIFEBOAT GIRL –Back to school
FINCH – Back to your family
SHANTYMAN- Back to your community
FINN –Back to my future, full speed ahead…
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[CHORUS RETURN WITH BIRDS AND SEA SHANTY –BIRDS CIRCLE THE BOAT AS
THE CHOIR SING THE SEA SHANTY AND THE BLACK AND WHITE IMAGES RUN
THROUGH SHOWING CAMLIN OF THE PAST]
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