The Show
Gloria is a new musical theatre show about England. It's the story of a young singer in Ghana who dreams that she comes to England in a small boat, after she views a video of refugees crossing the English Channel on her phone.
Gloria celebrates the good things about England: like the diversity, Shakespeare, the Beatles and nature - the Green Oaks. We also look at the bad things: the legacy of empire and lasting prejudice.
Gloria falls for George English, who is lost in life and bullied by his misfit family of historical characters - the English.
- Can Gloria escape the clutches of the Border Brigaders?
- Can the English get over their ignorance and embrace Gloria?
- Will George become his hero-self, Saint George, and slay his Fear Dragon?
- Will the world ever get to hear Gloria's song?
- Can George lay down his love of empire so Gloria can say I love you?
The Story
Prologue: In an open-mic cafe in Accra, Ghana, young singer GLORIA, finishes her song: I Trust in Me. A phone on a tripod is capturing her performance. She smiles bravely at the sporadic applause.
Gloria takes her phone and posts the video of her song. She gets a meetup message on a dating app. Then she views a video of refugees crossing the Channel. She reposts the video, saying: “Would you risk everything for your dream?"
Act 1: Gloria dreams she is adrift in a small boat, alone, bound for England. She sings of her dream of England: She calls for help to her gri-gri good luck figure of goddess Asase Ya: Gloria (song).
Gloria comes ashore, thrilled.
Gloria hears sirens and harsh voices. She hides just in time. In march the BORDER BRIGADERS, riduculous paramilitaries, led by TYBURN. They are searching for an alien invader and carry a gene testing machine. Gloria watches.
The BBs sing of keeping England pure and the War against the Dragon: Purity (Monochromatic). They march off, searching. Gloria regrets her dream of coming to England as a fool's quest: Gloria (Reprise #01).
We meet young GEORGE ENGLISH. George is lost in life. He dreams of having his own farm to share with a woman to love.
George is frustrated at his monotonous work in a dream factory and ordered around by his robot boss: Robot Rob.
George walks among the Green Oaks. He raps about how everyone is pressuring him to be the hero, Saint George. He longs to find love: Island Home.
A dragon shape looms then fades as George hears a beautiful voice answering his. He falls in love with that voice. Gloria appears and their eyes meet.
Night falls. George takes Gloria to his shabby English Home. Gloria wonders when the world will hear her song: Gloria (Reprise #02).
The next morning, in the English Home, George’s gaudy mum BRITNEY (Britannia) and punky sister BOO (Boudicca) - admire their family portraits. One picture shows OTTOBAH, who is away at the War. Britney and Boo reveal model objects the English Family has won worldwide: the Rosetta Stone, a statue from the Parthenon Marbles, and how they ain't giving them back: Things.
Britney and Boo wake George up. They boast about their past feats - thrashing the Romans and ruling the waves - and demand of George: What are you gonna do? : Expectation (No Dragon Slayer).
ARTHUR (King Arthur) George's dad enters. George sings of love but Arthur says: Love’s a fairytale, love will fail! Love, Please (Love's A Dream).
Gloria emerges. The English Family are suspicious. George asks if she can stay in their home. His family say No. It's English only here. Gloria speaks English, but the family can’t understand why. In The English they sing about their love of the English language: Shakespeare, the Beatles. They ask Gloria why she speaks English. Gloria tells them: Because there was a time when you sailed into the bay, of every litlle piece of land that got into your way, til our Independence Day. Since she speaks English, they reluctantly let her stay and Britney takes Gloria off to find a place for her.
Tyburn, the Border Brigader leader, arrives - and is now revealed as George’s other brother. Tyburn boasts of his violence and is proud that the Border Brigaders ‘protect’ England: Purity (Monochromatic) (Reprise #01).
Tyburn demands that George fight in the War. Arthur agrees: War Makes A Man. Arthur goads reluctant George to fight Tyburn. Gloria emerges from hiding to defend George. Tyburn chases Gloria. Gloria flees. Tyburn demands: Who in the name of England was she? Purity (Monochromatic) (Reprise #02). The English feign ignorance.
George finds Gloria in the Green Oaks. They’ll ignore the haters and celebrate their difference: Cool To Be You.
Rain falls. At first George and Gloria are sad then they rejoice, because you need rain for: The Next Rainbow.
A rainbow appears. They kiss.
Gloria and George come across a statue of a military man on horseback - a real statue in London's Horseguards Parade. George feels proud but shrugs when he reads the name: Wolseley.
But Gloria knows who General Wolseley is - he led the repression of Ghana in the 1870s. Gloria sings to the statue urging him to Crown our men with peace: Crowns of Peace. The horse now winged and the statue, flower-crowned, fly up to heaven.
Tyburn enters, searching for Gloria: Purity (Monochromatic) (Reprise #03). Gloria withdraws but watches as George embraces Tyburn. George: I’ve seen no alien invader scum. Tyburn leaves.
Gloria remonstrates with George at his betrayal. What is he afraid of? This angers George. Gloria now doubts him.
Seeking to put their differences aside, George says: I love you. He waits for Gloria to reply. But it has to feel natural for her to say those words: So Natural (When I Say ‘I Love You’). At the song's end Gloria can’t say “I love you”. She runs away in tears, dropping her gri-gri charm. George picks it up.
ACT II
Gloria roams London's streets at night, fearful of strangers speaking to her. She realises they are simply welcoming her - in langauages from Ghana and other countries, reflecting the 300 ethnicities in London: 300 Tongues.
The sun rises. The Border Brigaders sirens sound again and the Crowd flee. Gloria is alone once more and asks herself: What have you left but to turn and go home? Gloria (Reprise #03)
George walks with Gloria in the Green Oaks. Love, Please (Reprise #01).
But he is actually at work wearing a headset, holding Gloria’s grigri. His dream has infected the computers. The screens all show a couple and farm.
Robot Rob chases George out, screens flash:
Employment Terminated!
Robot Rob (Reprise #01).
In the Royal Palace, the blind, young QUEEN wishes to end The War against the Dragon. Her conniving MINISTER urges her to carry on. War Makes A Man (Reprise #01). Tyburn enters, reporting the sighting of an alien invader.
Gloria is found by Boo and her WARRIORS outside the Palace. Boo tells Gloria violence in the answer to her problems: Chop It Off! This only saddens Gloria.
She reaches for her gri-gri charm but it’s gone. Gloria revives her opening song: I Trust In Me. The Queen hears it from the Palace window. She loves it but cannot see singer. The Minister orders Tyburn and the Border Brigaders to capture Gloria: Seize Her!
George returns to the English Home, Arthur and Britney berate him for failing as a hero - they'd thought he’d gone to the War: Expectation (No Dragon Slayer) (Reprise #01). They throw George out. The Dragon shape looms.
George sits outside, forlorn. Ottobah returns from The War. He sings of his journey: captured in Ghana, enslaved in the Caribbean, his escape to England and writing of his experience: Back For Good. He tells Arthur and Britney that his War is against slavery, lies and corruption.
Britney goes out to George. She sings about things more important than material things - like forgiveness and love. She asks him to come back inside: Things (Reprise #01). But George won't come back in.
Arthur comes outside. He admits to George that he is a failed hero: he failed to stop the Angles and Saxons invading.
Expectation (Reprise #02). Arthur transforms into his hero form, King Arthur: the hero we created, the hero we all need:
The English (Reprise #01). But this makes George sadder: no one needs him.
Walking in the Green Oaks, George finds Gloria’s gri-gri in his pocket. He sings to it: Supahero (Snippet).
Boo runs in and tells George that Tyburn has captured Gloria and George is her only hope. The Dragon appears in reality. George transforms into Saint George in armour. He is about to slay the Dragon, when it weeps, saying it is only the Fear within George, within us all. He instils fear because he himself is afraid: Dragon Waltz of Fear. George embraces the Dragon which then smiles and vanishes.
Tyburn has Gloria bound on a plane with engines revving:
Back Where You Came From. George enters in his armour. He throws Gloria's gri-gri to her but she does not recognise him because his vizor is down. Gloria transforms into her hero self - the goddess Asase Ya. She bursts her bonds, her voice roars. The engines cut.
The Queen's Minister enters the plane. The Queen has heard her song and wants to meet Gloria: Her Majesty Requests Your Presence. The Minister ushers Gloria off the plane. Tyburn follows, leaving George behind, alone. At the English Home. the Border Brigaders gene-test Tyburn, showing he is a mix of many races, which he then embraces: Purity (Polychromatic) (Reprise #04).
Gloria appears as Asase Ya to the English family. They all transform into their hero forms: King Arthur, Britannia, Boudicca. Tyburn transforms into his river-god self - he flows again. Seeing Tyburn soften, Boo embraces him and softens too. Ottobah presents his new book which the family celebrate.
Gloria beings singing Cool To Be You (Reprise #01) then looks up at George's portrait. The music stops. The English Family freeze. Gloria is spotlit. She has everything she wanted- acceptance in her dream land, her song embraced by all. Yet she lacks the one she loves: The Whole World Loves Me. Gloria holds her sees a vision of George in the rain, high above, looking down. She runs to find him.
Having lost Gloria, job and family, George, stands on a high ledge on the palace. The wind howls. Gloria comes to him. They sing of their need for each other. Supahero. She says I love you. Together they return to the English Home. The Minister arrives and ushers all outside where the Queen stands in front of the Crowd.
The Queen says Gloria's song will be the new national anthem to unite the people and end the War.
We Trust In Us. The Queen sings because George has prevented Gloria from leaving England, she invites George to choose his reward. He chooses a farm where he and Gloria will live.
Epilogue: In the cafe in Ghana. Gloria wakes up. She looks at her phone and sees her song All We Have is Us has just reached 10,000 likes.
Gloria posts: “Wow! Thanks guys. What a ride!!! I hope your dreams come true too.”
Her dating app flashes: Date with George! Now! George walks into the cafe.
