The Colour White

The Colour White

2012 By Michele Lee Cast SABRINA, TILL and ALEX NARRATOR (Voice only) VARIOUS CHARACTERS (Voices only) Setting Various Time Now Production notes Sometimes SABRINA, TILL and ALEX play themselves, sometimes they will speak the lines of other characters. But most of the times they are physically (and silently) performing characters while the pre-recorded text of that character plays. When something is a pre-recorded voiceover, then V/O will appear before the text. It would be good to get performers with different-sounding voices to voice each character. The NARRATOR is represented as N/R. There is also projected image in this show. This could be projected onto a large canvas. If projection isnt an option, then the suggestions for projected images might not be possible. However, for the projected text, if projection isnt an option, then projected text could be substituted with hand-held placards, or presented in some other way.

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Introduction PROJECTED TEXT: The Colour White SABRINA, TILL and ALEX are warming up as the students enter. The performers are running through some of their tricks and moves, but not really engaging with the audience. The warm-up should give an indication of the physicality of the show. Every now and then, if the performers speak to each other, the only words they say are each others names. The show begins when all the students are seated. N/R: SABRINA: (V/O) Welcome to The Colour White. (To the audience.) Hi, Im Sabrina. Im Chinese-Italian. I grew up in Melbourne. I have my Mums eyes. TILL: (To the audience.) Im Till, half-Swiss, half-Italian. I grew up in the country. Im short, like my dad. ALEX: (To the audience.) Im Alex. Russian. I cant tan. PROJECTED IMAGE: A moving collage of faces and bodies colliding (this could be projected onto the performers bodies). PROJECTED TEXT: All the dialogue in todays show is from real people. From interviews the artists did, stories on the internet, TV shows, articles, ads, books. Names have been changed.

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The eyes PROJECTED TEXT: Annie SABRINA does a solo physical piece of ANNIE. ANNIE: N/R: (V/O) I had double eyelid surgery. (V/O) Asian blepharoplasty, commonly termed double-eyelid surgery, refers to surgery designed to place a pretarsal crease in Asian eyes that are absent a fold. ANNIE: (V/O) It was in like Year 12. I dont think its that much big of a deal. Its something like getting braces. Like its nothing. They injected a needle into my eye. I could feel him like sticking at my skin. Yeah I could feel The fat from my eyelid dripping down the side of my face Like it wasnt painful though Like you can feel it but its not painful. N/R: (V/O) Patients typically desire to look more bright-eyed and want to make applying eyeliner easier. Patients also seek to remove the puffy and tired look associated with a fatty upper lid. ANNIE: (V/O) I was a bit unhappy with myself. Small eyes. But not like I was getting bullied over it. But. Growing up I wasnt aspiring to look like a white woman 3

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Yeah I'm not trying to look Western. There are many Asians out there with double fold eyelids My mother has double-eyelids. The nose #1 PROJECTED TEXT: Rosie TILL does a solo physical piece of ROSIE. N/R: (V/O) Rhinoplasty is performed to reshape the nose and improve its appearance. ROSIE: (V/O) Well its funny. Growing up I always resembled my father. Olive skin, a pointy Arab nose. N/R: ROSIE: (V/O) Profiles can be improved by removing humps and tip bulges. (V/O) So my nose. I wouldnt say it was big, but I was uncomfortable with it. A pointy nose. A little bit of a bump up the top of the bridge. A very, very typical Middle Eastern nose. N/R: (V/O) Long noses can be shortened by a slight uplift and softening of the nasal outlines. ROSIE: (V/O) Even in Australia people other Arabs would just already know Im Arab. Im Arab. I went to several different high schools in Queensland. 4

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And in rural Queensland. The majority of my peers were white Australian. Gonzo, I remember getting called Gonzo once. The nose # 2 PROJECTED TEXT: Holly ALEX and SABRINA do a physical piece of HOLLY. N/R: HOLLY: (V/O) Small, underdeveloped noses can be built up and corrected. (V/O) I just got my nose done yesterday. It feels so strange touching it. I notice that they put in the Megan Fox bit. A higher bridge. I love it, I love it. What I didn't like about my nose was that It wasnt very defined It was quite flat and then it bulged out It looked like a mushroom I wanted a more stronger look I wanted a more defined tip I kind of wanted to walk into a room And be like "Hey, everybody, look at me, look at my nose." Yeah. That's what I wanted Like just to stick out on my face. Megan Fox. Do you know Megan Fox? SABRINA: Alex.

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ALEX: SABRINA: ALEX: HOLLY: The skin #1

Yeah. What sort of vegetable do you think your nose looks like? Maybe a turnip. (V/O) I love it, I love it.

PROJECTED TEXT: Nadia ALEX does a solo physical piece of NADIA. NADIA: N/R: NADIA: (V/O) In the soap opera, the dark-skinned women suffer. (V/O) The formulation contains natural skin lightening ingredients. (V/O) The soap opera is then punctuated with advertisements for creams That promise to make your skin lighter In 8 days. There is one in particular. Fair & Lovely. A best selling fairness cream In India. And many parts of Asia. A young girl is rejected over and over again by prospective grooms. They get turned off by her dark skin. She finally discovers Fair & Lovely. Before you know it, she is standing at the altar with a man Whose skin tone is the same as hers Before her fairness makeover. Shes laughing. I immediately asked my mother to buy me a tube 6

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Of Fair & Lovely. It is just plain bad luck when your sister is as fair as a white daisy. And youre midnights child. SABRINA and TILL join ALEXs piece of NADIA. N/R: (V/O) This blend is designed to lighten skin discoloration and pigmentation. It contains proven ingredients for lightening and brightening of the skin. TILL: SABRINA: The skin #2 PROJECTED TEXT: Ethan TILL, SABRINA and ALEX move from the previous ensemble work to an ensemble piece of ETHAN. ALEX: SABRINA: ETHAN: (To the audience) Im really pale. (To the audience) Im sort of beige. (V/O) I'm really pale. So I've kept out of the sun because I burn really easily. TILL: ALEX: ETHAN: (To the audience) Im sort of red-pink. (To the audience) I cant tan. (V/O) And that means I can't go to the beach with my mates. You know? I inject a drug called Melanotan. 7 (To SABRINA) A garlic bulb. (To TILL) A radish.

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It's an injection. You inject You inject Inject into the fat of your stomach. It stimulates the melanin in your skin And you sort of begin to start tanning. Then you can go into the sun for 15 minutes a week And it helps the process of darkening And without having to put on creams every night. Yeah. It fits in with my lifestyle Going to the beach all the time. It helps to have that complexion. It makes me feel more comfortable With my body. ALEX: SABRINA: TILL: The legs PROJECTED TEXT: Paresh SABRINA, ALEX and TILL perform PARESHs story, taking on the roles of the FATHER, MOTHER and PARESH. N/R: FATHER: (V/O) Pulled apart. (ALEX, to the audience) Paresh asked me, in the beginning He said Is leg lengthening going to be painful, dad? And I said More pain than you can ever imagine 8 (To the audience.) A tanned body. (To the audience.) Australian. (To the audience.) The quintessential Australian.

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But I said The pain will go away and the increase in height will stay with you. N/R: (V/O) The limb lengthening and deformity correction process works on the principle of distraction osteogenesis. PARESH: (TILL, to the audience) I said Dad I know this is going to be a tough surgery I know this is going to be the toughest several months of my life But we are a strong family And I think together we can get through anything. N/R: (V/O) With this process, a leg bone that has been cut during surgery is gradually pulled apart, leading to new bone formation at the site of the lengthening. FATHER: (ALEX, to the audience) Paresh is going through pain either way. If you dont do the surgery, he has different kind of pain rest of his life. If you go ahead with this surgery there is much more severe pain But only for six months. PARESH: (TILL, to the audience) The morning of the surgery we got up at 5.30. We had a little face-to-face with God Had a little chat saying N/R: PARESH: N/R: PARESH: (V/O) Pulled apart. Lengthened. 15%. (TILL, to the audience) Please God, protect me. (V/O) Bone segments can be lengthened by 15% of their original length. Ill be two inches taller than I was 9

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Two and a half inches taller than I was two years ago. The pain that Ill go through is nothing in comparison to that gain. A pause, theyre all thinking. ALEX: SABRINA: ALEX: N/R: SABRINA: ALEX: TILL: ALEX: SABRINA: ALEX: Race #1 PROJECTED TEXT: Lillian SABRINA now does a solo piece of LILLIAN. LILLIAN: (V/O) To assume that this or that feature belongs to a certain race Is total garbage. Its the height of Western arrogance 10 Sabrina. Yeah. Sabrina, if I was 15% taller Id be xx. (V/O) And that would make me... (To TILL) 15% more width. Id love that. I have chicken legs. Till. (To TILL) How tall are you? 5 1. (Pause) Pipsqueak. Good for doing acrobatics. Less weight to lift. (To both ALEX and TILL) I have chicken thighs. Till, if you were 15% taller, youd be xxx.

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To or claim a certain eye shape Or skin tone. Legs. Eyes. Chin. Skin. Babies have a bone structure that accentuates the top half of their face Large round eyes Innocence and purity There's a universal attraction to large round eyes. Cosmetic surgery has nothing to do with race. Nothing. We don't say that a white woman sunbaking on the beach Is trying to look more African. You don't say that Asians are typically thinner And Westerners are typically overweight Ergo a fat white man trying to lose weight is trying to look more Asian. TILL and ALEX join in. LILLIAN: Race #2 PROJECTED TEXT: Craig ALEX does a solo piece of CRAIG. N/R: (V/O) Another procedure is face smashing for Oriental faces. The cheekbones is cut in two places, pushed inwards and lifted to give the face more definition. The jawline is made more angular by cutting a slice off the bone. CRAIG: (V/O) The problem is 11 (V/O) It has nothing to do with race.

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Is that people arent honest enough or focussed enough to say I want to be white. I dont care what anyone turns around and says I want to be prettier I want to look classier This nose I have now doesnt go with my lifestyle Its like buying a Fendi purse Stop fooling yourself Stop finding different reasons to pretend that youre doing it for other reasons. Youre doing it because youre trying to become white. You might as well bloody paint yourself white. Im sick of these people who keep using excuses. N/R: (V/O) Lists of popular procedures for various groups show that ethnic cosmetic surgery usually aims to Aryanise features to some extent... CRAIG: (V/O) Youre doing it because... TILL joins in with ALEXs piece. SABRINA joins TILL and ALEX. S, T, A: (To the audience, singling out people and pointing) Golden. Beach blonde. Bondi. Kylie. Kylie. Button nose. Prettier. Pretty lifestyle. Beach. Australia. Body. face. Bondi. Cronulla. The Shire. 12

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PROJECTED TEXT: Nadia ALEX begins to move, continuing his NADIA piece. NADIA: (V/O) After some years I arrived in sunburnt Sydney with my Fair & Lovely in hand. And suddenly my skin colour was in vogue. Strangers complimented my tan And Friends told me how they wish they were half as tanned as I was. But I still applied my fairness cream every morning religiously. Even though I was confronted by ads for spray tans Discounts on tanning bed sessions Everyday I kept my Fair & Lovely tube close to me. Race #3 PROJECTED TEXT: Rosie TILL doing a solo piece, continuing the piece about ROSIE. ROSIE: (V/O) When I went in to see him for the first time He had a good look at my nose Literally He grabbed my head Had a look at my nose inside out Then I pulled out the picture Of the new me that could possibly be. The other doctor had printed out and gave it to me. This doctor got so pissed off when he saw that picture He just said to me

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ALEX joins in as the DOCTOR. DOCTOR: (ALEX, to TILL) Lets just get one thing straight, One thing straight. You are not a white girl. You are not white. You are not an Anglo-Saxon girl from Brighton, okay? ROSIE: DOCTOR: (V/O) My mouth sort of dropped and I thought this guys hilarious. (ALEX, to TILL) Im serious. You are a Middle Eastern girl And you shouldnt take away from that With your type of skin, youre going to heal very differently to the way an Anglo-Saxon girls skin would heal if she got a nose job. Do you keloid scar? ROSIE: (V/O) Keloid scar. Basically you get build-up of scar tissue Where there was an incision. It just builds And builds And builds And becomes bigger. Im serious Its predominant in a lot of African, Mediterranean cultures. Race #4 PROJECTED TEXT: Ethan TILL, SABRINA and ALEX continuing the ensemble piece of ETHAN. ETHAN: (V/O) Seriously 14

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I dont mean to be racist But as a general rule When I see Aussies get together They don't discuss race UNLESS Someone else brings it up. When non-whites get together One of them always wants to discuss race. It never fails. No, seriously. Seriously. I inject Melatonin But some folks do NOT care for the look of dark skin. It is simply an issue of what they prefer. There is always a critic who cries racism about everything. Beauty # 1 PROJECTED TEXT: Annie SABRINAs solo piece of ANNIE continued. ANNIE: (V/O) Another thing is like I really like make-up so like It was kinda like It was better to have double eyelids When it comes to like applications And stuff like that. And obviously I wanted to look better as well. TILL: SABRINA: (To the audience) Wow. (To TILL) Wow.

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TILL: SABRINA: TILL: ANNIE:

(To the audience) Wow, I want her / eyes. (To TILL) I want your / eyes. (To the audience) I want her...Greek olives. (V/O) Like my mother had double eyelids And I always thought it was pretty Thats why I always wanted it. "Wow, I want her eyes." She had these massive big eyes Massive lashes Its prettier More feminine It makes your eyes look bigger. Its just... Prettier. A prettier Asian. I think I was a bit sad that I didnt inherit my mothers genes Because she had the double eyelids and everything. And she had a pretty face.

Beauty #2 PROJECTED TEXT: The doctor ALEX and TILL do a piece with the HOST and DOCTOR (ALEX continuing any DOCTOR moments from before). HOST: (V/O) Doctor, you've been running your clinic for around 10 years And you're mainly dealing with patients from an Asian background? DOCTOR: (V/O) That's right.

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HOST: DOCTOR:

(V/O) What do most of them want and why when they come to you? (V/O) They normally come with just simple request: I want to look more beautiful Okay. That's quite subjective terminology. As a surgeon I got a bit of guideline. So the guideline for me is the golden rule of division Which is the ideal image of face. Dividing it vertically, we divide into five portions. Five portions. Division. Divided horizontally we divide into three segments. When I do the operation I reflect this into the operation.

ALEX:

(To the audience) The golden rule of division. TILL keeps moving.

DOCTOR:

(V/O) When I do the operation The standard of beauty is based not on race But rather on symmetry And measurements.

Beauty #3 PROJECTED TEXT: Before and after SABRINA joins TILL and ALEX. They are in a line-up, being scrutinised. Under a spotlight, or under a microscope. SABRINA: Till. 17

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ALEX: TILL:

Sabrina. Alex. PROJECTED IMAGE: The collage of bodies behind them (or projected onto their bodies), racing through a series of before and after.

HOST:

(V/O) Ooh. And let's have a look at what you looked like before Before all the surgery and what you look like now. SOUND: Breath.

HOST:

(V/O) Okay. Ooh. So that's what you looked like before And this is what you look like now. SOUND: Breath.

HOST:

(V/O) Ooh. We've got a photo of you before And you do look quite different now to the way you looked before. Yes. Quite different. SOUND: Breathing, hyperventilating. PROJECTED TEXT: Paresh

MOTHER:

(SABRINA, to the audience) One of our very good friends They have three beautiful daughters.

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SABRINA, ALEX and TILL become the three beautiful daughters, completely unattainable. MOTHER: (SABRINA, to the audience) And when they heard about Paresh Going to this surgery They said Why is Paresh doing that? And their dad asks them, says Would you date a man as short as Paresh? And he says they all said No. And he said Yeah theres your answer. Beauty #4 PROJECTED TEXT: Eve SABRINA, TILL and ALEX, their backs to the audience. They are shuddering. EVE: (V/O) I dont care about dying Just dont make me look ugly. TILL: SABRINA: ALEX: TILL: SABRINA: ALEX: (Back to audience, into a mic) I feel ugly when... (Back to audience, into a mic) I feel ugly when... (Back to audience, into a mic) I feel ugly when... (Back to audience, into a mic) No, I feel ugly when... (Back to audience, into a mic) I feel really, really...I feel ugly when... (Back to audience, into a mic) Really ugly when... 19

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EVE:

(V/O) While I was lying there I was actually crying. They did ask me why I was crying. Cause I just dont want you to make me look ugly Whatever you do dont make me ugly. I dont care about dying, just dont make me look ugly. SABRINA turns to face the audience.

SABRINA: HOST:

(Facing the audience, into the mic) We feel ugly when we watch TV. (V/O) In a sense, our bodies and our faces dont belong to us, but are rather a part of a wider mediascape. PROJECTED TEXT: Holly SABRINA and ALEX continue their piece of HOLLY.

HOLLY:

(V/O) Originally when I came to the doctor I brought a photo with me And it was of a Korean actress It wasn't of a Western celebrity. It was of a Korean actress.

TV Infectious K-Pop music begins to pulsate. PROJECTED VIDEO: A Fair & Lovely ad plays mashed up with other media images. It is like a karaoke screen, with a K-pop song playing and the words at the bottom of the screen. ALEX is singing along.

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SABRINA and TILL performing while ALEX sings. ALEX: (Singing) <Something in Korean>. Megan Fox. Megan Fox. Megan Fox. Kylie. Kylie. <Something in Korean> Fair & Lovely. Ooh. <Something in Korean> Beauty. Golden. Tanned. White. Korea Korea Korea. Cronulla Cronulla. <Something in Korean> The music stops and the projected video pauses on a frozen frame of the Fair & Lovely ad. SABRINA takes the mic. PROJECTED TEXT: Lillian SABRINA as LILLIAN, continuing on from before. SABRINA is moving and lip-syncing to the voice-over text. LILLIAN: (V/O) Traditionally, in India, there were castes Usually the higher castes had lighter skin And the lower ones were darker. Thats not to say that the thinking was that lighter-skinned people Were better than darker skinned people. Fairer skin gave the appearance of not working in the fields Rich Wealthy. The media has little to do with this. 21

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It has little Traditionally Caste made the girl more attractive. As you can see The same idea goes on today. Transformation # 1 PROJECTED TEXT: Lillian SABRINA puts down the microphone, and does a solo piece, continuing her LILLIAN piece. N/R: (V/O) Body dysmorphic disorder is an extreme form of body image disturbance. LILLIAN: N/R: (V/O) Hey. Doctors. Cosmetic surgery has nothing to do with race. (V/O) People with BDD not only see themselves as ugly but also are distressed by this belief that their ability to perform their day-to-day activities becomes impaired. ALEX joins in and continues his DOCTOR piece. SABRINA keeps moving too, as LILLIAN. LILLIAN: (V/O) You know I'd like to ask the doctors over here N/R: (V/O) They become disabled by their negative thoughts about how they look and how they think other people see them. LILLIAN: (V/O) Do you send patients who come in and say "Look, I want my eyes lengthened I want this, I want that." 22

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N/R: LILLIAN:

(V/O) They see their problem as a physical one, and go to plastic surgeons... (V/O speaking to narrator) Do you send them to talk to a psychologist Or a psychotherapist Or something To find out is there something in their head That may need to be changed Before you actually change their physical appearance.

N/R:

(V/O as if he has been interrupted by LILLIAN and is annoyed) In an attempt to change their looks.

LILLIAN:

(V/O) And before you give them something that might be potentially dangerous? ALEXs DOCTOR character continues.

DOCTOR:

(V/O) You know I think people are trying to adapt to each others environments And each others society. If an Asian person would live in white Caucasian Society And If He feels You know One or two features of his body needs to be modified And If It is possible within reasons And Within the scope of plastic surgery 23

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I think it should be sympathetically considered. LILLIAN: DOCTOR: (V/O) I think its dangerous. (V/O) I think its sympathetic.

Transformation #2 PROJECTED TEXT: The doctor ALEX, as the DOCTOR, continues. DOCTOR: (ALEX, to the audience) We tend to discourage it. We have a group here called The Australian Limb Lengthening Reconstruction Society. And we actively discourage people from going for cosmetic lengthening. Very very strict criteria Height less than 4 foot 9 inches A genetic condition such as Achondroplasia Being counselled prior to undergoing the procedure The good thing is If you are in an ethically sound position No one can force you to change that position. PROJECTED TEXT: Paresh SABRINA and TILL as PARESHS MOTHER and PARESH, with ALEX moving around them. MOTHER: (SABRINA, to the audience) This is the actual external fixator That had become a part of Pareshs anatomy For those three and a half months. By adjusting this little knob on all six struts Would make Paresh one millimetre taller each day. 24

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PARESH:

(TILL, to the audience) One of the most painful part of the surgery is all the pins. I say pins Theyre screws and nuts and bolts that are sticking out of my body.

MOTHER:

(SABRINA, to the audience) Everyday, I would clean around the area of the pins to prevent infection. His ankle and his knee tend to get very stiff if he doesnt exercise them vigorously.

PARESH:

(TILL, to the audience) The pain cant even be described. TILL as PARESH, walking slowly. PROJECTED TEXT: The doctor ALEX morphs from the DOCTOR into the NADIA character.

DOCTOR:

(V/O) Well to lighten the skin is virtually impossible. You know You're born with a constitutional colour You know You might move a shade down by not exposing yourself to the sun But to actually move several shades is very difficult. ALEX becomes part patient (NADIA), part DOCTOR.

NADIA:

(V/O) I knew someone darker than me. Yes, she said specifically Im going back to Sri Lanka Im a contestant Im the runner up I want to be whiter 25

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I will have a better chance to win if I am whiter You need to do me a complete whitening of my whole body. The doctor said ALEX is morphing into something large and hybrid and grotesque. TILL, with his painful legs, dances with ALEX. SABRINA watches. PROJECTED TEXT: Nadia, Singaporean DOCTOR: (V/O) Unfortunately we cant do it, we are not going to do it. And she said I know doctors do it. I said Yes doctors do do it We do not do it. (ALEX, to the audience) We do not say that the procedure is safe. (ALEX, to the audience) Is it really worth it? NADIA: (V/O) The human quest for what we cant have is an ongoing battle. Fuelled by images of discontent fed to us by big name companies Our insecurities grow in proportion to their wallets. We all know this and yet we cant help but be a part of it. This is why I have given up my unachievable desire for lighter skin. Like the profound words of Olay Which incidentally also sells whitening creams I have learned to love the skin Im in. SABRINA becomes the HOST. HOST: (V/O) And let's have a look at what you looked like before Before all the surgery 26

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And What you look like now. Okay So that's what you looked like before And This is what you look like now. And do you think there's a big difference? SABRINA: TILL: ALEX: SABRINA: Alex. Sabrina. Till. Look at us. ALEX and TILL and SABRINA morph into one, giant creature, dancing. Transformation #3 PROJECTED TEXT: All the projected text from throughout the show now speeds through and is projected over SABRINA, TILL and ALEXs bodies. The three performers are standing still and the projected text is washing over them. End SABRINA, TILL and ALEX pause, then they resume the tricks and positions from the start. Theyre not really engaging with the audience. If they speak to each other, its every now and then. They say only each others name. SABRINA leaves. ALEX leaves. 27

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TILL leaves. N/R: THE END (V/O) Thank-you for watching The Colour White.

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