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61117
THREE SERVANTS
by
John Cosper
GENRE: Comedy; Audience Participation
TIME: 10 minutes
CAST BREAKDOWN: 2 Narrators, plus audience members
THEME: Judging Others; Disabilities
CHURCH YEAR SEASON: Any
SUGGESTED USE: Worship Service; Bible Study; Children's Ministry; Street Theater
CHARACTERS:
Two narrators
A Prince, A Princess, Three Servants, and an evil Duke—picked from the audience
SYNOPSIS: A fairy tale about a prince and his three "disabled" servants who help defeat a giant, find treasure, and win the love of a princess.
PROPS: Small costume items for the prince, princess and Duke (crowns, tiara, etc); a pair of socks; a blindfold; a wheelchair; a hula hoop; a sheet or blanket
COSTUMES: Modern dress for narrators
SOUND: General
LIGHTING: General
SETTING: Fairy Tale Land
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE: 1 SamuelDIRECTOR'S TIP: To have its intended punch, this script requires a great deal of audience participation. Make sure that your Narrator is someone who can interact comfortably with your congregation, choosing "volunteers" from the audience whose personalities are appropriate for this type of audience participation. First-time visitors or overly shy individuals would not be a wise choice as impromptu cast members. Choosing people with a good sense of humor or spontaneous nature will help to make this sketch a success.
Lights up.
NARRATOR: Once upon a time in a far away land, there was a beautiful Princess.(Pick a PRINCESS from the audience.)
NARRATOR: Now, I know what you're thinking. Not another stupid damsel in distress story. But don't worry. This is a new one. One you haven't heard. And I promise, no dwarves, no singing mice and no lousy Disney songs with Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson. The Princess' name was Penelope, and tales of her beauty spread far and wide. Many men dreamed of making her their bride, but one thing stood in their way.
(Pick a BARON from the audience.)
NARRATOR: For Princess Penelope had a wicked, evil, nasty, dastardly father, a man named Baron Bjork von Dork of York. And the Baron forbid any man from seeing his beautiful daughter unless that man would accomplish three impossible tasks. It wasn't that there were no men brave enough to take on these impossible tasks. It's just that those men had extremely short life spans, because the tasks were so impossible, no one had survived even the first of the three tasks.
Then one day, word of the Princess' plight reached the ears of a heroic young prince, a prince destined to become a hero. In fact, his name was Prince Hero.
(Pick a PRINCE from the audience.)
NARRATOR: The prince set out for the castle of the Baron. As he rode along…(Make the PRINCE pretend to ride a horse.)
NARRATOR: He came across a woman named Helena.(Pick a HELENA from the audience.)
NARRATOR: He saw Helena sitting beside the road from a distance. And as he came closer he noticed something peculiar. Helena had no hands.(Put socks on HELENA'S hands.)
NARRATOR: As she saw the Prince approach, she cried out to him…HELENA: Hello there, handsome Prince. Could you use the assistance of a humble servant on your journey?
NARRATOR: The prince replied…
PRINCE: Indeed I would, but how can you be of help to me, being that you have no hands?
NARRATOR: But Helena said to him…
HELENA: Judge me not by my appearance, dear Prince. For man looks at the outside, but the Lord looks at the heart.
NARRATOR: Well, the Prince couldn't argue with that, so he invited Helena along. They continued on the journey together, and they approached a man named George.
(Pick a GEORGE from the audience.)
NARRATOR: And as they got closer, the Prince noticed something unusual about George. For George sat in a Gazooga-Seat. That's the medieval/ fairy tale word for wheelchair.
(Put GEORGE in a wheelchair.)
NARRATOR: As he saw the Prince approach, he cried out to him…GEORGE: Hello there, handsome Prince. Could you use the assistance of a humble servant on your journey?
NARRATOR: The prince replied…
PRINCE: Indeed I would, but how can you be of help to me, being that you have no use of your legs?
NARRATOR: But George said to him…
GEORGE: Judge me not by my appearance, dear Prince. For man looks at the outside, but the Lord looks at the heart.
NARRATOR: Once again, the Prince was not going to argue with the word of God, and they invited George along. They continued on their way and saw another woman named Rose.
(Pick a ROSE from the audience.)
NARRATOR: But this time, Rose did not see them, because she was blind.(Put a blindfold on ROSE.)
NARRATOR: As she heard the Prince approach, she cried out to him…(Instead of cue cards, give ROSE her lines by whispering in her ear.)
ROSE: Hello there, handsome Prince. Could you use the assistance of a humble servant on your journey?NARRATOR: The prince replied…
PRINCE: Indeed I would, but how can you be of help to me, being that you are blind?
NARRATOR: But Rose said to him:
ROSE: Judge me not by my appearance, dear Prince. For man looks at the outside, but the Lord looks at the heart.
NARRATOR: Again, the Prince was not going to argue with the word of God, and so Rose joined their merry band. They continued on and arrived at the castle of the evil, slimy, foul and hideous Baron Bjork von Dork of York! And the BARON said…
BARON: If you wish to marry my daughter, you must do for me impossible tasks of three. Or never my daughter shall you see.
NARRATOR: The Prince said…
PRINCE: What are these tasks I must perform?
NARRATOR: And with that the Baron Bjork von Dork of York said…
BARON: To the north, there is a giant named Argyle, whose skin is so thick, he cannot be killed with any weapon. If you can escape him for one hour, he will fall over and die of exhaustion. You must wake the giant and make him chase you until he is dead. But careful he does not catch you, or you will be eaten.
NARRATOR: So the merry band set out to find the giant Argyle. And find him they did, all three thousand and fifty feet of him.
(Point out the tall giant to the heroes and make them act afraid.)
NARRATOR: The Prince said…PRINCE: His stride must be a mile wide. Woe is me, for I have failed.
NARRATOR: But George spoke up and said…
GEORGE: Fear not, my Prince. For he will never catch me in my Gazooga-Seat.
NARRATOR: That's the medieval/ fairy tale name for a wheelchair. So the heroes approached, and George got ready to wake the giant. Now, it's going to take all of us to wake him so on the count of three, everyone yell "Wake up!" One… Two… Three!
AUDIENCE: WAKE UP!!!(The NARRATOR pushes GEORGE across the stage in the wheelchair, then back as he/she narrates.)
NARRATOR: George raced ahead of the wicked giant, who chased him and chased him. Finally, after an hour, George was still going. But the giant had a heart attack and died. The Prince and his band returned to the wicked Baron and told him the news, but the Baron did not believe them.
BARON: If you truly killed the giant, do this second task for me. You shall fetch for me the giant's ring and bring it to me. But, take care not to touch it with your hands, or you will die an instant, horrible death.
NARRATOR: So the heroes returned to the scene of the giant's fall where they saw the ring.
(Throw a hula hoop on stage.)
NARRATOR: The Prince saw the ring, and cried out…PRINCE: How can I pick up the ring without my hands? Woe is me for I have failed.
NARRATOR: But Helena said…
HELENA: Fear not, my prince. For I will pick it up with my feet.
NARRATOR: And so Helena approached the ring, and using only her feet, picked it up.
(Have HELENA take off a shoe and sock and pick up the hula hoop. Give the PRINCE a large bag and help them get the hoop in the bag.)
NARRATOR: Then they quickly returned to the wicked Baron, who said…
BARON: Well done, but now you must face your most difficult task. I have hidden my daughter in the dark canyon of despair. You must find her in 48 hours, or I will destroy you all.
(Take the PRINCESS away from the BARON into the audience, some place easy to get to, and throw a sheet over her.)
NARRATOR: Indeed the Princess was hidden in the dark canyon. And when the Prince saw the canyon, he cried out…PRINCE: This canyon is too big and too dark. Woe is me, for I have failed.
NARRATOR: But Rose said…
ROSE: Fear not, my Prince. For I can hear her crying. I will lead us to her.
NARRATOR: So Rose led the group to the hidden Princess using the international signals for tracking down lost people.
(Have ROSE and the PRINCESS play "Marco Polo" as ROSE, blindfolded, guides the group to the PRINCESS.)
NARRATOR: At last Prince Hero and Princess Penelope were united, and the Prince took her home to his palace where they were married. His three servants, Helena, George and Rose, became his royal advisors. His father the King was puzzled by the Prince's decision to trust the disabled servants with such great responsibility, but in time, he too came to learn the lesson the servants taught Prince Hero: man looks at the outside, but the Lord looks at the heart. And as for vicious, conniving, scheming, nauseating, repulsive villain Baron Bjork von Dork of York… he forgot his own advice, picked up the ring of the giant Argyle with his hands and died a horrible, agonizing death.(Make the BARON die.)
NARRATOR: While the Prince, the Princess and their faithful servants lived happily ever after. The end.
Lights out.
Performance and photocopying rights:
Your purchase of this script grants your church unlimited use of these sketches within your programs and worship services. You may photocopy the script for each cast member in your church. Scripts and performance rights are not transferable between churches and cannot be resold. You may not use the sketches for any commercial or fundraising purpose, and usage rights do not extend to video, radio, television or film.Copyright © 2002 by John Cosper