All the lights in the great tent go out.
The audience murmurs.
There are one or two shouts.
The shouts are silenced by a collective shhhhh!
A spotlight switches on.
It illuminates the empty ring.
Then it moves up a ladder.
The ladder is ridiculously tall.
There is a hut perched at the top.
A clown pokes his head out.
He steps out.
He is wearing a funny hat and polka dots.
He begins climbing down the ladder.
On his back is a long pencil.
The pencil is taller than he is.
He keeps slipping and catching himself.
The audience gasps each time he slips.
At the bottom a little table is waiting for him.
He sits at the table.
He begins to write with his ten-foot pencil.
From a loudspeaker we hear his voice.
The voice dictates what he is writing.
"Dear Mum, I can no longer be a clown.
The sky is red and everything is burning."
As he writes the spotlight on him turns blue.
A giant koala is illuminated.
It is dancing into the ring.
A kangaroo dances into view opposite.
The clown stands, still bathed in blue light.
He lays his pencil down.
He removes his clown costume.
He is wearing jeans and a flannel shirt.
He joins the koala and the kangaroo.
They all dance to a lilting waltz.
The audience is mesmerized.
The whole spectacle recedes and fades.
