| Scene | Characters | Location | Synopsis | Songs / Music |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Londoners, Bloomsbury Set, Animal Dealer, Cyril, Anthea, Robert, Jane, Psammead. | Bloomsbury, 1905 | Opening chorus. The four children enter, complaining that everything has gone wrong — no magical adventures after all the excitement of last year, and they're really missing their parents. They discover the Psammead in a cage outside a shop and buy it. Psammead harangues them with his pitiful state and demands a container full of silver sand where he can have a good sleep. | Bloomsbury |
| 2 | Jane, Anthea, Cyril, Psammead, Robert. | Home | The next morning the children wake Psammead up — he's as cantankerous as ever. The children are hoping he'll use his magic to bring their parents back, but he says he can't. Jane starts to cry. This galvanises Psammead who is terrified of water, being a sand-fairy. He says they need a charm — and he saw a very powerful one in a shop near the one where they found him — an Amulet. "It will give you your Heart's Desire". | |
| 3 | Psammead, Robert, Cyril, Anthea, Jane. | Bloomsbury | Psammead (in a bag) directs them to the shop and sends Cyril in to buy the Amulet. Then it realises there's only half of it there and sends him back, but the shopkeeper says it's perfect. Psammead tells them that the half can take you anywhere you like, to look for the other half. You need to get it to speak — and to do that you need to speak the name written on the Amuletcharm — which is in hieroglyphics. Anthea has an idea. | Heart's Desire |
| 4 | Learned Gentleman, Cyril, Jane, Robert, Anthea. | Learned Gentleman's Room | The Learned Gentleman lodges upstairs from them. He is elderly and seems vague, but he takes the children's questions seriously and treats them as adults. He recognises the Amulet's value and offers to buy it, but accepts their refusal and tells them how to pronounce the word of power. Anthea feels sorry for him — drawn to him — and goes back to remind him to eat his dinner. | |
| 5 | Psammead, Anthea, Amulet, Cyril, Robert, Jane. | Home | They form a circle. Anthea says the word. Complete darkness and silence. Then light on their circle and a wordless chorus. A voice says "Speak. What is it that you would hear?" It explains that the other half of the Amulet has been destroyed. But the children can still search for it — in the past. The children are agitated — suppose they were stuck in the past?! They discuss things with Psammead. | Invocation |
| 6 | Londoners, Robert, Cyril, Anthea, Jane. | Regent's Park | Ladies with parasols, children playing games, perhaps a policeman chasing someone. Cyril says the word. The passers-by freeze. Light on the children alone [and the passers-by exit]. The charm grows into a large arch [back-projection onto the gauze] and through it shines a blaze of blue and yellow and red. The children go through the arch. | |
| 7 | Robert, Cyril, Psammead, Jane, Anthea, Nadia, Villagers, Scout, Headman, Assyrian. | Eight Thousand Years Ago | The river Nile. A girl leads them to her village and shows them round while the people discuss them. There is a secret sacred place in the middle of the encampment — with an Amulet. There is an attack and the children want to go home, but when the Psammead has gone! Eventually they find it asleep in the sacred place, and just manage to escape. | People of the Nile The fight in the village |
| 8 | Anthea, Learned Gentleman. | Learned Gentleman's Room | Anthea takes dinner up to the Learned Gentleman and tells him some of their adventure while he eats. It wasn't till they got home that the children realised no time had passed while they were in the past. They sing a song together. He is amazed at how accurate her imagination is, thinks his nerves must be out of order from over-work, and takes a long walk before continuing his study. | Drawn together |
| 9 | Cyril, Robert, Jane. | Home | Anthea has gone shopping with Nurse; the others are talking about their recent visit to Babylon. Jane doesn't want any more magic at the moment. The boys decide to play statues on the stairs. | |
| 10 | Learned Gentleman, Visitor, Cyril, Anthea, Jane, Robert, Psammead. | Learned Gentleman's Room and outside | The children are playing statues. LG is talking to a visitor about Atlantis. He wishes he could go there, and Psammead puffs up to grant his wish. "So he might as well go with us". He plays along with their game. As they tell the Amulet "Atlantis", Cyril adds "Just outside". Robert shouts out that it's an island, and Psammead is terrified of getting wet, but they emerge on a ship. | |
| 11 | Psammead, Shantyman, Sailors, Tavin, Learned Gentleman, Robert, Anthea, Cyril, Jane. | Ship / Atlantis | Sea Shanty — and possibly some sailors dancing a hornpipe. The Captain asks if they are come to bless or curse, and being reassured he takes them through the streets. Learned Gentleman thinks it's all a wonderful dream. The captain arranges transport for them to the top of the hill. | Shanty |
| 12 | Old Priest, Young Priest, Jane, Psammead, Anthea, Cyril, Robert, Learned Gentleman. | Temple of Poseidon | Two priests discuss why the ceremony is being held. The boys watch the sacrifice from a gallery; the girls are looking at the sea. A tremendous wave smashes ships and factories. LG dashes up crying "I must see the end of the dream". The volcano erupts — ashes and sulphur shower down on them. Psammead bites LG's hand — at the same time the boys push him through the arch. | Flood and fire |
| ACT 2 | ||||
| 13 | Cyril, Anthea. | Bathroom | Anthea is cross and upset because she misses Mother so much. Cyril tells her they need to do things properly — take gifts, like missionaries do. | |
| 14 | Robert, Jane, Cyril, Psammead, Anthea. | Home | Psammead says that never again will he go into the past with a grown-up person. I will say for you four, you do do as you're told. They gather suitable gifts and ask the Amulet to take them to Egypt. | |
| 15 | Activist, Robert, Pacifist, Cyril, Anthea, Jane, Rekh-mara, Psammead. | Egypt | They arrive in an angry crowd. A man is trying to stir up a riot. After the crowd is dispersed they look around them wondering which are temples and which are palaces. The priest Rekh-mara appears and asks them which temple they are looking for. Cyril impresses him greatly by making fire with his matches, and Rekh-mara wants to take them to Pharaoh's palace (where he is in disgrace). | Rebellion |
| 16 | Pharaoh, Rekh-mara, Cyril, Anthea, Psammead, Robert, Jane, Guard, Soldier. | Pharaoh's Palace | Dancers perform before Pharaoh. Rekh-mara presents the children. Pharaoh accepts their gifts and is impressed by the matches. Anthea says Cyril cannot do more magic because of the free people shouting for bread and beer and onions. Pharaoh agrees. Rekh-mara says she will be the idol of the people. But then Pharaoh demands Psammead, the children object and they are locked up. | Dance before Pharaoh |
| 17 | Anthea, Jane, Cyril, Soldier, Robert, Psammead, Rekh-mara. | Prison room | They show the soldier some magic and he promises to bring Psammead. High above them Rekh-mara is watching through a chink in the wall. The soldier comes back with Psammead, wishes he were back home in Lebanon, and disappears. Rekh-mara shouts out a warning as they raise the arch, but too late. He stands there looking at his own amulet as the lights fade. | |
| 18 | Jane, Anthea. | Home | The girls are painting, and talking about colours made from fish. They get fed up with painting and ask the Amulet to choose "somewhere where you are". | |
| 19 | Anthea, Sea-captain, Robert, Cyril, Jane, Sailors, Shantyman, Rekh-mara. | Rowing ship | They see the half Amulet round a sailor's neck — but how can they take it from him? They think they've seen him before. He looks a bit like Learned Gentleman, but more like… He looks up at them and they recognise Rekh-mara. The captain feeds them. They see a ship, and he tells them it's returning from a three-year's voyage to the Tin Islands. | Tyre for ever! |
| 20 | Sea-captain, Rekh-mara, Anthea, Cyril, Robert, Jane, Phelese, Kalia. | Tyre | When they reach Tyre the Captain takes them and Rekh-mara to see his friend Phelese. But then they discover the captain has sold them all as slaves! The wife Kalia treats the children well and enjoys their company, so they quite like being slaves. But that night Rekh-mara wakes them up and tells them that Phelese has gone to sea and taken Rekh-mara's Amulet. They must go and find it. | Our country |
| 21 | Phelese, Rekh-mara, Robert, Jane, Cyril, Sailors, Anthea. | Ship | The children go through the Amulet to when the ship is twenty miles from the Tin Islands. A foreign ship has been following them. Robert's cheap compass lets them navigate by night, but the foreign ship still follows them close to the harbour. Phelese makes a speech. Rekh-mara grabs his Amulet back as the sailors wreck the ship to keep the location secret. Two arches spring up, and Rekh-mara and the children disappear. | |
| 22 | Anthea, Psammead, Jane, Robert, Cyril, Rekh-mara. | Home | They tell Psammead they've lost the other half again, but it says it was the same half. At that moment Rekh-mara appears. They compare them — and the two merge together! They fight, argue, agree to work together. They hide him in the box room, but the next morning he is gone. But he can't have gone back to Egypt without the Amulet. They consider asking Psammead's advice, but Anthea suggests the Learned Gentleman. | |
| 23 | Learned Gentleman, Rekh-mara, Robert, Anthea, Jane, Cyril. | Learned Gentleman's Room | They enter the room to find Rekh-mara! He has told the Learned Gentleman about the Amulet and they have got on so well together that it's as if they had been friends for a long time. Learned Gentleman suggests a way to get hold of the other half and the pin. Rekh-mara wants Learned Gentleman to come too, but the children in one voice say "No"! | Almost brothers |
| 24 | Head Scientist, Scientists, Rekh-mara, Robert, Anthea, Cyril, Jane, Captain, French Soldiers. | The Dig in Gaza | Scientists find the half Amulet and rush off to report it. Rekh-mara and the children start to search — then French soldiers burst in. The children are caught, but Jane hides in a trench. Rekh-mara says he's helping the scientists. He finds the other half Amulet, but the scientists return and call the soldiers. They leave when it's too dark to work, and Jane comes out — scared but determined. | Alone |
| 25 | Bonaparte, Kléber, Captain, Anthea, Cyril, Robert, French Soldiers. | Bonaparte's headquarters | Bonaparte is a ruthless commander, and England is at war with France and Egypt. He questions the children harshly. He tells the soldiers to kill them, but General Kléber says that's short-sighted — they must find out how English children got in. Bonaparte agrees that they will be questioned very forcibly the next morning, and the children are taken away. | |
| 26 | Rekh-mara, Captain, Anthea, Cyril, Robert. | Two locked rooms | Three children in a locked room; Rekh-mara in an adjoining room. A soliloquy — he could escape, but if he lets the children die he betrays his own values. Robert climbs on Cyril's shoulders, forces open a small window and drops down the other side. He unbolts the door. They let Rekh-mara out and use his Amulet to take them to Jane's Amulet: he admits that he never thought of that. Robert makes the arch and they all go through. | What must I do? |
| 27 | Rekh-mara, Cyril, Robert, Anthea, Jane, Captain. | The Dig in Gaza | They can't see Jane at first. Then they realise she's asleep, and they wake her up and tell her that they all need to search for the pin — though in the dark it seems a hopeless task. Jane asks whether they can really trust Rekh-mara, who keeps quiet while the others discuss it and decide that yes they can. And then Jane produces the pin from her pocket. She makes the arch and says "Please, take us back". They go through it. | |
| 28 | Rekh-mara, Nurse, Cyril, Anthea, Jane, Learned Gentleman, Psammead, Amulet, Robert. | Learned Gentleman's Room | They combine the two halves. Old Nurse rushes in saying that their parents are coming back today. Rekh-mara can only stay if there are two compatible souls in one body. Jane raises up a double arch; R and LG merge. Andrea gives him the Amulet and the children rush down to meet their parents. LG starts to sng, then the whole company joins in. | Invocation More than brothers Heart's Desire - Finale |