A SCENARIO FOR A ROBOT PLAY

THEY CAME FROM THE SUN

Written and performed by twelve‑ and thirteen‑year‑olds at The Stationers’ Company’s School*

One day a red glow was seen by an Astronomer flying past a lighthouse.

The Astronomer’s name was Brian Gromley. He telephoned the police and waited until they arrived. It was about 10 minutes before the police came.

Immediately Mr Gromley showed them on a map where he had seen IT land. They went to the spot where IT had landed, with dogs and ammunition. The police officer who was in charge was called PC Maguba. He said: “Be careful men – this craft may be dangerous.”

One police officer approached the craft too close and suddenly a red line hit him. All the others couldn’t bear to look as the policeman disintegrated into red dust.

The officer in charge said: “Get back men, this is a job for the Army.” So he walked up to the car and called the Army.

It was about one hour before the Army arrived with tanks and machine guns and about 1,000 men.

Then, suddenly the doors of the spacecraft opened. Out of it came three robots. One by one they positioned themselves around the spacecraft as if they were guarding it. Then, one of the soldiers thought that the robots were going to attack them so he shot at one of them but the bullet just rebounded off the robot. At this point the robots fired at every soldier that could be seen and there and then they all disintegrated into red dust. Then suddenly one of the robots said: “We do not want to harm you, and we only attack when somebody shoots at us!”

They started to walk in the direction of the town. The officer said: “Where are you going?”, and the robot replied: “We are going to the SPECIAL WAR ARTILLERY DEPARTMENT.” When they arrived they began to steal the artillery and nobody could do anything about it.

More robots came over the hill and destroyed them. But nobody knew where they came from. Then they disappeared into thin air and nobody saw them again.

The Astronomer said it would probably be about 100,000 years before they would return.

* A comprehensive school in Hornsey, North London, with 1220 pupils and 80 teachers. The project was carried out by a student at the Institute of Education of the London University, Tim Brown.

The children were photographed, making the costumes and performing the play, by Brian Shuel, London.

From Robots: Fact, Fiction + Prediction (Jasia Reichardt, 1978)