Ecclesiastes 3 The time of our lives

Lucy Moore

On your marks:

This sketch was written for the Gloucestershire Year Six Leavers’ Services at Gloucester Cathedral in summer 06

Get set:

You’ll need one narrator and as many actors as you can find

Go!

The Time of Our Lives

Narrator reads all the lines in bold, allowing plenty of time for actors to get into position. Slow is good!

Actors take up position in a freeze, one foot in front of the other in a circle. They start to move on ‘time’ and set off marching round in a circle, saying ‘ tick tock’.

There is a time tick tock tick tock tick tock
for everything tick tock tick tock tick tock
under the sun tick tock tick tock tick tock

Like:

(Stop dead, face outside of circle, crouch and act out)

7.30 Getting up (up, yawn and stretch, scratch)
8.00 Eating lots (shovel food in)
8.30 Go to school (run)
12.00 Eating lots (shovel food in)
3.30 Coming home (run)
5.00 Eating lots yum yum yum yum yum yum yum)
9.30 Go to bed (brush teeth)
10.00 sleeping lots (crouch & snore)

(Repeat monotonously 3x like machine, getting faster until it comes to a sudden freeze, crouching)

Starts and stops In pairs A act ‘start’, B act ‘stop’ and freeze in position)
Beginnings and endings (ditto)
Sad times and happy times (ditto )

(Back into marching circle in 3 groups)
There is a time tick tock tick tock tick tock
for everything tick tock tick tock tick tock
under the sun tick tock tick tock tick tock

As one time ends, another begins

(Move on ‘moment’ into position on 3 sides of square, adding on gradually with each line, so that the numbers at the end of the directions are in place equally divided between the three sides)

As one moment ends (heartbeat x4 slowing down and pause)… another begins (heartbeat x4)

As one hour ends (make clock faces with arms from 6.00 position).. another begins (reach twelve o’ clock, shout bong +start another round)
As one day ends (Mexican wave to show sunrise and set) .. another begins (cheery bright new Mexican wave)
As one season ends (brr chilly)… another begins hot summery actions)
As one year ends (sad: Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind)… another begins (Happy New Year!)

Every beginning (holding baby) is an ending (waving goodbye).
And every ending (1 steps back with arms out as if on the cross and rest of group turn to watch) is a beginning (the 1 lifts head, steps forward and holds arms out in welcome).

God has made everything beautiful in its time.

And this (Group 1gather in middle, arms out)
is the time (Group 2 and 3 gather in the middle arms out)
of our lives! (All arms up)