The First World War: Soldiers in the frontCast and Characters

Franz Ferdinand as:

Sophie Ferdinand as:

Gavrilo Pincip as:

Sylvester Scalin as:

Nurse Claire as:

Fredrick Beowulf as:

Plot:

Narrator: “It was July 28 1914, when Franz Ferdinand, the duke of Austria visited Sarajevo until” the stage goes dark and a gunshot is heard and then two policemen are arresting a young man by the name of Garvrilo Pincip and then the Archduke Franz Ferdinand along with his wife Sophie lies dead in their motorcade “This triggered a massive chain of events, an event that will change the world forever.” The curtains close and then when it opens there’s seen to be people rioting in the left, people in a table arguing and then on the right two men on the right is looking at the moon.

The man on the right and the right or the Russian diplomat shook his head and then said “This is war” and then the man on his left was shocked and the Russian hides behind the stage

Narrator: The triggers of war were first was when Franz Ferdinand was assassinated and then a Austrian diplomat had a heart attack while eating dinner and seeing there’s no more choice, Russia goes to war.”

Narrator: “In a farm, a mother and a father are arguing In the British country side and was arguing about whether or not the father should go to war and 21 year old Sylvester Scalin was listening and polishing his boot” Sylvester’s mother and father is seen arguing around and then he stands up and then the mother and father are shock and the mother scolds him for he wanted to be conscripted.

After a long scolding the father steps up and the mother scolds him as well but they eventually agreed and the mother hugs Sylvester and then the scene changes.

The scene is now a square with soldiers and horses and a man wearing a olive-green uniform is in a table with young men lining up and then the scene changes.

It’s in Paris, a young woman who is a nurse with the age of 20 sees the taxis going to Marne and as she looks at the scene, it changes. It follows the taxis (see picture for

reference) and then music plays. Can-can Orpheus in the underworld plays as the taxis race each other with men of blue uniform, red pants and red caps with bags of the soldiers and their rifles and their taxis racing each other following the tempo of the song with others having the French flag flying in the air held by soldiers and as the song stops the scene stops moving as well and the taxis are seen going to Marne and at the last moment Claire is seen at the last taxi with soldiers with her and the background shifts into a map of how far the French had to go to reach Marne and the background shifts again now with a British flag and a map with lines going to Somme

Narrator: “While Claire and the French advances to Marne to which the allies would have 81,000 dead, 263,000 causalities and the axis would have 220,000 were either injured or killed. But no matter the sides or the color of their uniforms, she would always help those in need”

The scene shifts and the curtains close temporarily and when it opened, Claire is in a battlefield inside a medical tent taking care a patient and Claire pulls out a bone saw and amputates a soldier’s leg off and the French soldier thanked him

Soldier: ”Merci Madame” and tips his hat and Claire leaves the tent and almost gets hit with a artillery shell but it missed her and the tent but it destroys a nearby bridge.

She runs up to the bridge only to find a German soldier wearing grey uniform and a pointy hat and was crying in pain

GS:” Mutter. Mutter. Ich fürchte, Ihr kleiner Junge Sie werden nicht wieder sehen“ the soldier says with tears in his eyes and reaching the clouds and then Claire runs to the pile of dead bodies, the soldier just looks at her with sad eyes not caring that she was

French and just close his eyes and hoped to die, but Claire ran up to him with her bag and took out a bandage gauze and a pair of tweezers and then pulled the soldier out of the pile of dead bodies, she then rolled his face in the mud but he didn’t argue, he just wanted to die.

Claire:“ Attendre. Vous serez bien:“ and she notice sharpnel blast from the body near the neck and 3 near the spine, she didn’t hesitate to pull the Shrapnel in this young man’s back and quickly took it off and then she rolled him facing up again, thankfully the mud didn’t stop him from breathing and she notice a hole with blood coming out of it and she unbottoned his coat and took out the bullet and wrap the gauze in it.

The soldier opened his eyes again feeling a little better and she saw the face of Claire, the soldier though he has already died but he checked and he was alive, before he could stand up he shook the hand of Claire “Danke“ he said and he quickly toss his arms in the air and ran to the French encampment to be arrested but he was laughing like a mad man the French soldiers were uncomfortable but Claire just simply smiled.

Nrrator:“Meanwhile in Somme Sylvester is now wearing British infantry uniform, a bag in his back and his rifle along with his many comrades preparing for the 2nd attack of his

battalion and he was tasked to drive a M1(see pictures of reference) and with that, his death sentence came earlier than expected“ The scene shiftes, it’s still in Somme but it switches to another tank(Take note this the first time a tank was use in war) ``Fredrick Beowolf, a conscript from the United states has volunteered to help the British forces to fight off the Germans“(Not historically accurate)

Tank commander of Sylvester:“Alright Chaps, let’s take out the Jerry’s that has enough balls to even tries to attack us till we die“ the whole tank crew cheers except for Sylvester who was afraid and then they advance in enemy territories destroying barbed wire and sandbags in front of them and then the background moves to show a two German Machinegunner blocking their path along with other German soldiers on stand by to make sure non of the British infantry makes it but the Machine gunners take out all 7 men who were outside the tank and then the scene focuses on the tank again

Tank commadner:“Those Jerry’s just took all of our chaps, let us introduce to them the meaning of payback“ the turret of the tank raises and it fires a rocket destroying the

two Machinegunners causing the German troopers to go on a panic and run back to their side. The scene swiftes again back to the tank of Fredrick Beouwolf and they seem to be having a normal time, their tank cannon raises up destroying a German airplane that attempted to shoot them with machineguns but it was quickly shot down before it could release a single shot and then artillery fire shoots the tank setting it on flame and kills the men outside the tank too, only Fredrick survives the shot but coughs when he comes out. Fredrick was a bald American by the age of 34, an African American as well and wore only the British uniform but without the helmet, instead he wore a racoon hat but he shook his fist to the Germans and took out his knife and ran to the German artillery fire, thankfully they didn’t have a machine gun so he ran to the German line with the Germans surprised not expecting him to get far with artillery fire but they have no weapons so Fredrick quickly dispatched them with a knife on the neck each leaving no one behind and there he saw Sylvster’s tank almost reaching the German artillery range.

Fredrick:“Not on my watch“ he holds the knife on his neck and jumps down on a small river and quickly swam across the lake, up a hill and killed a surprised German soldier with a Geweher but when he aimed Fredrick he quickly shoved it off and stab the soldier at the neck making him scream very loudly for his comrades to hear and then three from each artillery grabbed their own rifles and then aimed it at him but Fredrick took the dead soldier’s rifle. And shot them when they had to reload forcing the remaining German soldiers manning the artilleries to retreat and the tank quickly and easily comes through the hillside ramp that would’ve killed them without Fredrick and when they got outside they rose the British flag and Sylsvester shook Fredrick’s hand

Slysvester:“Thank you, when i enlisted in this war i didn’t know what it had for everyone. What is a tank anyway? This is the first time hearing one“

Fredrick:“Don’t worry kid, shooting someone get’s easier over time. Come on do you drink?“ and he put his arm around Slyvster who looked sick and Slyvster shook his head „Well more for me then“ and then British soldiers puts down a crate of alcohol to which Slyvster refused to drink and walked away when his commander offered him one.

Narrator:The background turns into the map again with the British flag and lines moving to Belgium“With the victory of the Battle of somme the French and the British advanced at Ypres Belgium in October and November 1914 and both Fredrick and Slyvester were the ones deployed there. While our two male heroes were advancing with their British

friends and infantry, the French also won the battle of Marne they are now also advancing to Ypres Belgium and Claire along with the French army were already there fighting off the Germans.“

The background shows the French flag with lines going to Belgium and then the scene shiftes into a battlefield with a destroyed tank,trenches and many many dead fighting but the scene moves to the right to show the French infantry and then to a angry officer shouting at a Ham radio“

French Officer:“Nous sommes bombardés ici pourquoi ne sont-il des renforts ?``

Ham Radio : ``Pardonnez-moi, monsieur, mais nous ne disposons pas un nombre suffisant d'hommes ``

French Officer : “Âne “ The officer slams the radio and then he pulls a sword, aims it at the sky and shouts and soldiers wearing grey uniform and grey helmets follow it and go inside the trench and face the Germans soldiers in their trenches.

The shift changes to the right and shows Sylvester shooting and killing a German soldier and running in the dead soldier’s direction along with Fredrick and other British soldiers advancing through but a artillery is heard and it kills the British soldiers and knocking out Fredrick and Sylvester but the two quickly got up in their feet and then a nearby artillery explodes but it only shakes the ground and enter two pathways

Sylvester: “Fredrick, I’ll go straight ahead and you’ll go left” Fredrick nods and then the two goes to their separate ways.

The scene chases after Fredrick first and he enters a German military compound with deceased German soldiers everywhere along with French and British infantry as well but he ignores them and runs ahead seeing lone artillery with three dead German soldiers hanging on to it and then he climbs down a ladder and goes to the artillery.

He grabs a telescope from one of the dead German soldiers and there he finds Artilleries firing at the trench and next to him was a map with a X indicating where the artillery would be, so he grabbed a shell and inserted it the cannon, aimed and fire destroying one of the enemy artillery but it is short lived as one more artillery fires at the trench and then Fredrick fires, only to miss and be fired upon to which Fredrick survives but the artillery is damaged beyond repair and is trap and the only exit is by going to the surface and run through a artillery filled. Leaving no choice Fredrick grabs his gun and jumps out

the trench with his hands up and rifle in the air screaming and the scene shifts to a German soldier looking through a binocular and giving it to a officer and then the officer commands to fire the Artillery to Fredrick and then the other artillery does the same but all in vain to which they all miss and the French flag is raise in the Trench invading one of the artilleries and the captured artillery was used to fire on one of them and then the other leaving 4 of the 16 German infantry on that trench destroyed.

The scene shifts to Sylvester running in a muddy terrain with deceased British soldiers in a the pathway he has chosen but he kept running with his rifle on the lead and a German officer was busy contacting someone in a radio not noticing Sylvester behind him, so Sylvester was now grabbing his trench knife(By the time I’m writing this I’m pretty sure the trench knife was a knuckle brace with a knife attached to it)walking slowly to the officer and when the officer finally turned his back to see Sylvester, he lunged.

The officer was fighting against Sylvester, though he was taller and the officer had a scar on his right eye he simply was struggling to stab Sylvester and then he kicked him on the stomach making Sylvester draw back and the officer ran ahead shouting but Sylvester blocked his punch and proceed to knife his stomach but the officer grabbed his arm and twisted it making Sylvester scream and the officer forced Sylvester to stab him in the knee making him scream but Sylvester simply just kicked the officer in the stomach using his left leg and with a oof from the officer he walked near him and the officer again attempted to punch him but Sylvester used his right bleeding leg to kicked his stomach very hard he felt his bone break and blood gushed out but the officer was stabbed with the flag pole with the flag of the German empire and he died.

Sylvester rested in right knee checking if anything was wrong but he simply couldn’t see, so he grabbed his rifle and held it in the front, took out the magazines and used it as a walking stick, though he wanted to charge the Germans he simply couldn’t and when he heard footsteps in the trenches he would hide and see German troops thankfully dodging his way.

The last time he heard footsteps, blood was all over his right leg, he was feeling weak and was about to black out and then a artillery hit making him fall down and landing his stab wound in a rock making him scream and then someone noticed him. He quickly stood up but he was too weak he lay unconscious. By the time the soldiers that noticed him were seen, they were wearing grey uniforms with grey helmets with no spike top,

the French infantry uniform and a soldier commanded two of the troops to take him back to camp and then they haste fully went back to the clinic. The scene shifts into to the clinic which was a tent in the trench and a artillery fire shook the tent but thankfully Claire was just wiping a French soldier’s stained uniform and then she was shocked to see a British soldier being carried by two French soldiers, she putted her hand over her mouth and pointed to a vacant bed out of three and the French soldiers nodded and said “Oui” and then lay him on the bed, after doing so they grabbed their rifles and screamed when exiting the tent.

A man looked up at the bed wearing a grey spike helmet indicating he was German.

German Soldier: “It would be nice if you scream when you’re about to die” and lay again on his pillow and slept (he was located in the right while Sylvester was at the left)

Sylvester woke up but his eyes were only to catch a glimpse of Claire and his eyes blurry he only saw the light behind her

Claire: “it will be alright, everything will be fine” and Sylvester though he has died

Sylvester: “Am i Dead? Was i already Judge? “Claire giggles and closed his eyes and Sylvester went to sleep (not eternally, not yet) with a smile

The scene just shows Claire taking care of the three soldier one is a British soldier the other a French and the latter is a German soldier and then it shifts into Fredrick wielding nothing but his fist but he advanced with many French soldiers behind him screaming and then the enemy was caught surprise and then normal infantry ran back to inside the bunker to equip their weapons but a machine gunner was already stationed in front of the entrance, Fredrick saw this and stopped but not with the French soldiers, he hide behind a dirt wall (Cause the trench I’m thinking was |-- Bunker entrance) and waited until the Machine gunner reloaded, when the gunner reloaded he picked up a grenade from a dead French soldier and threw it at the gunner unknowingly and oblivious to the grenade toss at him and when he finished reloading the scene shows the surface of the trench exploding and then it shifts back to Fredrick and a couple of French soldiers screaming again with their guns drawn and again caught the Germans by surprised.

And then he climbed up a ladder almost getting shot by a German Gewher but he dodged it and grabbed his knife and threw it at the soldier hitting him in the chest and dying, he climbed up the bunker seeing the surface through a window and there’s two

bodies, one is the soldier he just killed and he walked up to him and picked up his knife and the other one was a German officer that was looking through binoculars but took his life with a pistol he was holding. Fredrick looked through the binoculars and saw at least 4 flying German spy planes, the remaining artilleries standing and more trench warfare.

A French soldier climbs up and holsters his rifle

French soldier:” Commandement dit que nous devons revenir en arrière “

Disappointed and looked at the floor then the surface he finally looked at the soldier and nodded and both of them went down the ladder and to the nearest French encampment which was located in Sylvester’s hospital

Narrator: “Though Fredrick hoped for a successful liberation of Ypres he agreed and there he saw one of his first friends almost die”

The scene shifts and Fredrick enters the medical tent with Claire holding a tray of utensils and cups of water and then Fredrick drops his rifle he was holding and runs to Sylvester.

Fredrick: “Ma’am, tell me his gonna live”

Claire: “Don’t worry, he will” she said gently with a smile and Fredrick nods and finds Sylvester’s diary in his pocket and reads it.

Sylvester (narrating): “Dearest mother and father, I have tasted my first day in hell and I wouldn’t see it again. Not even in a 2nd war if England would go to one(cough foreshadowing cough) I should’ve wrote my will when I was still in our old cottage laughing and drinking fresh water as it here rations are split to soldier to soldier and sometimes the food wouldn’t arrive. I have met this American named Fredrick and he has saved my life along with multiple of my tank mates by murdering all of the Germans that was that would’ve destroyed our tanks if it wasn’t for him. I don’t like killing Germans but it’s my job and I’m starting to think as a job. If you read this diary, it means I have perished in combat and hopefully my commander will send this to you along with my pay” and there’s some pounds attached to the page and Fredrick puts his diary back on his pockets and pats him on the back, leaving the tent.

Narrator: “With the first battle of Ypres over, both French and British infantry moving to the Chermin des Dames defense” (Timeskip, I just realized this is a very long play and though I wanted to make it longer I have a limit sorry) But before the days of the end it was full of cheer” the scene shifts in a tent with Fredrick and French soldiers clapping trying to cheer up the ones in bed and appears to be working but inside what seems to be German and British troops being cheered up and even a officer is there, in the middle is a gramophone and Sylvester and Claire are holding hands, pulling around and goes in a circle while everyone cheers playing a song called “Any bonds today” by the Andrew sisters(HISTORICALLY NOT ACCURATE!!!!!!!: This is a disgrace for me for I should have known better but meh, I cannot find one so Pulls a katana and aims it at my chest but this should be the best option) and in the as the music ends everyone and everyone threw their hands in the air but Claire and Sylvester accidentally let go as they were spinning and thankfully Claire was stopped by Fredrick with her saying sorry and Sylvester hits a wall saying his alright.

The patients goes to sleep and the soldiers that are well leaves and Sylvester picks up his gun and is last to leave and he waved to Claire goodbye and she kissed her hand and blew it at him and began cleaning her tools.

The scene shifts with Sylvester wearing a white undershirt and some pants writing a diary with a barrel next to him and ontop of that is a candle and his sitting on a chair and he narrates.

Sylvester: “Dearest mother and father, this is my 2nd time writing my diary even though mother said that I should write so I would know my experience in this war, I have met one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. Other than that Black Widow Jessica Roberts that I have the decency that she hasn’t been found lying on my bed at morning. Hopefully she would be the one and only at the end of this war.” After Sylvester stops writing, he blows a candle and the lights die and the curtains fall.

The curtains and lights go back again in a trench war with a artillery almost hitting Sylvester and in the sea of grey uniforms and helmets he was the only one standing out, no Fredrick this time and he was being commanded by a French officer, to him the officer spoke Gibberish but he pointed his sword at three French soldiers and he quickly ran to them asking them in English to be with him. At first they were confused but he pointed at the officer and the three nodded and walked beside him in his last moments of defeat.

The officer shoots a gun in the air and a whistle blows and then they marched with many many soldiers following them and many soldiers carrying their injured or dead comrades in stretchers going to the opposite direction, some crying, some holding back tears and just keeps moving and then the officer shoots another bullet and then the soldiers advances to the trench with artillery shells from German planes explodes near them but they keep advancing but as they were advancing a lone French soldier dies from German machine guns synchronized on shooting them but the gap was short and once the German’s were reloading they advanced but this time the only screams were from the officer ordering the men to advance.

There was a cave block and the French soldier in front of them had a shovel and dug and the scene shifts to the right and shows a shovel poking out of rubble and the first soldier got out but quickly gets shot by German machine guns and Sylvester pulled him inside the dirt hill and checks his heart and shakes his head and grabs his shovel and prepares to advance when they reload, the Germans stop to reload and then all 3 of them runs to another mine and wait for the Germans to fire.

There were no machine guns so a demolition expert ran along do a dirt hill that was blocking them and planted explosives, he ordered his allies to stay back and he then attached the wire to the trigger and ran to safety, but a artillery exploded in the surface revealing their positions and two of the 8 German Machine gunners spotted them and killed the demolition expert.

The French officer once again shot the sky hitting a mud roof and Sylvester waits for the German machine guns to reload and then the two machine gunners did and Sylvester took the detonator and pushed it down and the three of them advanced to safety and see mountains of dead French soldiers all piled up but a lone French soldier was asking for help to be pulled and it seemed like German Machine guns weren’t focused on them so Sylvester pulled the soldier out of the mountain of bodies and just in time too for a artillery destroyed the mountain and the officer came back and shot a pistol in the dirt roof shouting orders and the three soldiers advanced using the pile of dead bodies to be covered from Machine gun shells and advance only to be stopped and rained by German machine guns and the only way to get to the other side appears to dig under and so they did but artillery shells starts bombing on them but thankfully after some digging and missing artillery they reach the surface once again with Sylvester patting but the two soldiers ran to a cart with piles of dead soldiers in it and they wait for Sylvester to get in, finally catching his breath he ran to the cart and the soldier he saved pushed the

cart but the cart was too fast for him to catch on without being gunned or bombed and then a artillery bombed him, he was no longer seen in the stage though the only evidence he died was his helmet broken in half.

Sylvester and the other soldier was oblivious as first on what happened to him until they noticed the broken helmet and Sylvester just closed his eyes and shakes his head and ran to another cart but now without bodies and the two soldiers one French one British went up the cart and Sylvester pulled a lever and the cart moved.

Thankfully after they stopped and reached the bottom Machine gunners fired not noticing they already escaped and the two of them advances but a artillery shell hits Sylvester knocking him out and a wave of French soldiers thankfully didn’t step on him, but the same French Officer shouts and orders the men by shooting in the air and pointing his sword at the lines with no defenses from Machine gunners.

The scene shifts to the French soldiers blindly following orders and getting killed and then the French soldier that was with Sylvester was afraid and keeps being shouted and then the French officer raised his sword and Sylvester stand up as well and walked to the French officer, before the officer could cut the soldier with his sword he wasn’t wearing a helmet and Sylvester used the shovel to hit him in the head and the officer looked at him and screamed and Sylvester hit him in the head again resulting with the officer screaming and for the last time he hit his head the officer lay dead painting the mud red and the soldiers looking at the body.

Narrator: “The Chemin Des dames defense was a failure, Treason arose” the scene shifts with French soldiers arguing and shouting against a French officer with two French soldiers by his side “While this was happening, Fredrick already won his battle and got word from what happened to the defense, he quickly asked his adviser” the scene changes to Fredrick asking a man wearing Olive green uniform “for permission and he did, he ran to the Chemin defense but he was too late. Sylvester was already trialed for death” the scene shifts with a Sylvester slouching looking on the ground with shackles on his feet with French soldiers showing him respect by putting their helmets on their chest or saluting him. “Sylvester was court marshaled and got the death sentence and he knew there was nothing he could do.

The Curtains close but it opens again with Sylvester in a jail cell still with his British uniform and shackled feet along with some imprisoned French soldiers a French soldier called him outside and Sylvester nodded and stand up.

Sylvester: Sylvester walks in the sea of French soldiers not knowing he was being treated as a friend and not the enemy “Dearest mother and father. My last days is ahead of me, The French officials have said I am guilty and commend me to death for I have killed a officer that led all of his sheep’s to drown(metaphorically speaking) but they still found me guilty. The English court sees me that as well and approved the French to do so and so I await my last moments, I can see my little brother Victor and my little sister Sally growing up fine and healthy as millions of lives have sacrifice their lives in his accursed war and I hope helps them not to join a war even if it means of hurting the economy or if they are needed. I’m sorry I have not produced an offspring yet and this means fewer grandchildren for both of you but hopefully Victor and Sally does.”

Sylvester sees a vehicle with all his friends and he saw Fredrick standing somewhere and he smiled, he looked at a French soldier and he nodded and a tower was put in Sylvester’s eyes.

“Remember me”

And the lights close and a gunshot is heard.

(Wow! This have been written like a week or and it should be noted this was finish in 04/30/16. Hopefully this script was a script for a play and not a idea for one but hey, maybe I would grow up and become a writer or a playwright cause

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”

-Whoever

Well thanks for reading my play and hopefully this was good enough and goodbye)