The Jungle Book (NHB Modern Plays)

By Jessica Swale, Rudyard Kipling and Joe Stilgoe

Rudyard Kipling's beloved tale of family, belonging and identity has been reimagined in this acclaimed adaptation by Jessica Swale, with original songs by Joe Stilgoe.
The Jungle Book tells the story of Mowgli, the man-cub who is raised by wolves. With a little help from his animal friends – including Bagheera the panther, Baloo the bear, and Kaa the python – he must face the cruel and powerful tiger, Shere Khan, and learn the Law of the Jungle.
This musical adaptation is packed with memorable characters, catchy songs and brilliant storytelling, offering rich opportunities for all school, college, youth-theatre and amateur groups looking for a 'fresh, ambitious and inventive' (The Times) version of a much-loved classic.
It was widely seen on tour of the UK, produced by the Children's Theatre Partnership, Fiery Angel, and Royal & Derngate, Northampton, in 2018.
'Fresh, ambitious and inventive' - The Times
'Joyfully inclusive' - The Stage
'A celebration of diversity and the power of family, no matter what form it takes… Swale has given us a Jungle Book for the present day, one ready to enchant and educate in equal measure' - WhatsOnStage
'Beguiling, thrilling and witty' - Northampton Chronicle
'More than the expected family show, teaching messages of equality, diversity, acceptance and more. It reminds audiences of all ages that our differences only divide us if we let them' - Mancunian
'A beautifully heart-warming show' - Miro Magazine

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Dec 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9781788502863

Jessica Swale

Jessica Swale is an Olivier Award-winning writer, director and film maker. She trained at Central School of Speech and Drama and the University of Exeter. Jessica began her career spending a happy decade as a theatre director, during which she founded and Red Handed Theatre Company, with whom she won Best Ensemble in the Peter Brook Empty Space Awards and multiple Evening Standard Award nominations. She then began writing. Her first play, Blue Stockings, premiered at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2013. It is now one of the most performed plays in the country, and is featured on the GCSE Drama syllabus. She is currently writing the TV series. Jessica’s next play, Nell Gwynn, won her an Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and transferred from the Globe to the West End, starring Gemma Arterton. She is currently writing the screenplay for Working Title. Other plays include Thomas Tallis (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), The Mission and adaptations of The Jungle Book, Sense and Sensibility, Far from the Madding Crowd, Stig of the Dump and The Secret Garden. Now working primarily in film and television, she both directs and writes for the screens – original works and adaptations. Screenplays include Persuasion for Fox Searchlight, Nell Gwynn for Working Title, Longbourn for Studio Canal and an original rom-com for Blue Print Pictures. Her first film, Horrible Histories the Movie, premiered in 2019 and was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Feature for Children. Her directorial debut feature, Summerland (also writer), starring Gemma Arterton, premiered in 2020. She also wrote and directed the internet hit Leading Lady Parts, a short film promoting equality in film, starring Arterton, Felicity Jones, Emilia Clarke and friends, for the BBC and Rebel Park Productions. You can watch it on YouTube. Jessica is an associate artist with Youth Bridge Global, an international NGO which uses theatre as a tool for promoting social change in war-torn and developing nations. As such, she has lived in the Marshall Islands and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, directing Shakespeare productions including The Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night and The Tempest. She has written three titles in Nick Hern Books’ popular Drama Games series: for Classrooms and Workshops, for Devising, and for Rehearsals. She is also an active campaigner for greater equality and diversity across all dramatic media, and an active member of Times Up and the Me Too movement.

Book preview

Prologue

It’s night-time somewhere in the Western Hemisphere. Everyone is asleep.

A voice begins. Then another. Then another…

Song – ‘New Moon/Same Sun’

GREY. Hoooooowwwwwllllllll!!!!!!!

New moon, rising moon

Watch it wax and wane

Fall and rise again

Full moon, dying moon

Hear our call

Hear our call

ALL.

Same sun, same moon

Same earth, same river

Same eyes, same skies, same sun

We’re here to give you shelter

We’re here to guide you through

So take this jungle blessing

And know we’re always there for you

We’re here to give you shelter

We’re here to guide you through

So take this jungle blessing

And know we’re always there for you

AKELA. Wolves, it is the hour. It’s time to present – the wolf cubs! Bring each cub forward so we can welcome them into the pack.

ALL.

Gather round and hear the calls

Of a wolf as darkness falls

As she bids the moon to hear the newborn cries

As another baby cub

Becomes a member of the club

We join as one beneath the jungle’s starry skies

We’re the mountains, we’re the trees We’re the shelter from the breeze

We’re the soothing song to ease you to sleep We’re the river, we’re the earth

We’re the mother at the birth

We’re the memories you’ll always keep

Same sun, same moon

Same earth, same river

Same eyes, same skies, same sun

We’re here to give you shelter

We’re here to guide you through

So take this jungle blessing

And know we’re always there for you

We’re here to give you shelter (same sun)

We’re here to guide you through (same moon)

So take this jungle blessing (same earth)

And know we’re always there for you

Same sun

Same moon

Same sun

AKELA. An outstanding parade of cubs! Are there any other wolf cubs who have not yet been presented? Bring your little ones forward

RAKSHA. Hiran! (Sotto.) What should we do?

HIRAN. I don’t know! Maybe they won’t notice.

RAKSHA. Won’t notice?! How could they not notice?!

HIRAN. I know! What if we disguise it?! Stick a piece of fur on it?

RAKSHA. Yeah…

HIRAN. And some little wolf ears.

RAKSHA. Yeah…

HIRAN. And a big bushy tail.

Beat.

RAKSHA. That is a terrible idea!

HIRAN. Have you got a better one?

AKELA. Raksha! Hiran! We hear you have a new cub too. It’s your turn. Bring the little fella forward. Come on! Where is it?

RAKSHA. Here, Akela.

Beat.

AKELA. Raksha. There’s something odd about your cub.

RAKSHA. What’s that then?

AKELA. It’s not a cub.

RAKSHA. Oh?

AKELA. Well, it sits on two legs – and it has no tail.

RA. Where’s its fur?

RU. And its paws?

HIRAN. I told you we should have stuck some fur on it.

RAKSHA. Shut up!

AKELA. That creature looks distinctly like a man-cub.

WOLVES. A man-cub?!

AKELA. Why do you have a man-cub?

HIRAN. We found it. And we’d like to keep it –

RAKSHA. – as one of us. To run with the wolves and join the wolf