Throughout the whole play, the Narrator will stand DOWN RIGHT, facing the audience at an angle to the left, so he can observe the stage. He stands behind a lectern from which he reads his script, and the spotlight on him will be dimmed when he is not speaking. If this is not possible, then the Narrator may enter and exit the stage from UP RIGHT, with script in hand.
Scene One
Lights are up on both the Narrator and the main stage. As the narration begins, the ten brothers are seated, cross-legged on the floor. They are eating, drinking, passing around the bread and facing each other.
As ‘Let’s See’ begins, the brothers are being very animated, which includes throwing aside pieces of bread in anger. Throughout the whole dialogue, Reuben remains silent, looking from one to the other.
At the end of Scene One
At the end of the dialogue, there is a pause as Joseph enters from UP LEFT. He enters abruptly as if he’s been running, then suddenly slows his pace as he walks from UP CENTRE to DOWN CENTRE. While he is walking, he smiles and looks directly at each brother from left to right. His brothers stare at him hatefully and follow him with their eyes until he is at the front, standing DOWN CENTRE, facing RIGHT. As he meets Reuben’s eye, Reuben briefly raises his right hand and nods but looks back down again.
Scene Two
As the lights go up on the Narrator, Joseph goes to sit by Reuben but as soon as he is seated, Levi rises followed by the others. They drag Joseph to his feet and gather around him, roughly pulling off his coat. They spread widthways, trying to pick Joseph up and lay him across their arms, while stagehands quickly bring the boxes onto the stage behind them and place them in the CENTRE. These are arranged in a circle to give the impression there is a pit in the middle. They are stacked high enough so you won’t see Joseph when he’s inside, but a gap is left at the front so that he can be easily lowered into it. The brothers lift a screaming Joseph into the pit. Once he’s inside crouching down, the last box can be placed. As ‘Where Is the Hand?’ is recited, Joseph stays crouched down so all the audience can see is the ‘pit’ and maybe the top of his back if the seats in the audience are tiered. The stage is dark except for a small spotlight over the ‘pit’. As nobody can see Joseph properly, the actor may take advantage of this by reading the monologue off a sheet of paper, rather than having to memorise the whole thing.
Scene Three
Reuben enters from UP LEFT and runs to the ‘pit’ in the centre. He is facing DOWN RIGHT as he stares into the hole. When he says, “Joseph! Poor Joseph!” the brothers enter, from UP LEFT lead by Judah. They are all smirking.
They move to DOWN LEFT, while Reuben turns to face them. As Reuben says, “You raging maniac!”, he rushes towards Judah and tries to hit him on the upper chest with both fists either side of his torso. Judah grabs both arms and pushes him away gently.
Judah, Dan, Asher and Levi walk to the CENTRE and face DOWN LEFT, standing behind the ‘pit’ when each of them says their lines. The rest of the brothers remain DOWN LEFT at an angle facing CENTRE, watching Reuben and as he becomes more and more agitated, some of their expressions change from smugness to guilt and they look around one to the other.
Scene Four
During the first paragraph of the narration, Jacob comes onto the stage and sits down in the CENTRE, facing the RIGHT CENTRE.
At the beginning of the second paragraph, the lights go up on the main stage and the ten brothers enter from UP LEFT. Three of them are huddled together, clutching Joseph’s coat which now has a blood stain on it. They gather around behind Jacob then slowly walk around to face him. Jacob grabs the coat, and the brothers hastily exit the stage. Just before the last brother exits, (Reuben) he pauses and looks around guiltily at Jacob.
At the start of ‘Broken Promise’, Jacob remains where he is, but turns so he is facing the audience and looking upwards. Just before the dialogue begins, he drops the coat by his side, rips his shirt off his back and starts to cover his head with imaginary dust. At the beginning of the second paragraph, he picks the coat up again and holds it upwards and outwards, just below chin level.
At the end of the dialogue, Jacob clutches the coat to his chest, and he slumps to the ground with his head forward, weeping bitterly. The lights dim while he is still crying aloud. When the crying fades away, the lights go up on the Narrator for Scene Five.
Scene Five
At the beginning of the second paragraph of the narration, the lights go up on the main stage and a sullen Joseph walks in carrying a box which he places on the floor DOWN LEFT. He bends down facing the audience and begins to slowly take items out of the box and place them on the floor beside him. Potiphar follows him onto the stage and stands in the CENTRE watching him from afar. Potiphar’s wife enters and stands UP RIGHT looking past Potiphar’s shoulder at Joseph. Potiphar turns around to exit and startles his wife who quickly pretends she’s admiring something on the ceiling.
As Potiphar leaves the stage, his wife moves towards Joseph and stands so close behind him, he would trip if he got up suddenly. Joseph’s eyes move to the right as if he is aware of someone behind him and he shuffles forward. Potiphar’s wife moves to his right and stands looking down at him. She is smiling and starts to roam her eyes upwards as if she is planning something. Joseph gets up, dragging the box to the CENTRE and stoops down again. Potiphar’s wife follows him and stands to his left. While Joseph continues to take items out of the box, Potiphar’s wife removes a powder compact from her pocket and begins to check her make up in the mirror. She deliberately drops it in Joseph’s box and puts her hand to her mouth as if was an accident. Joseph stops, frozen to the spot, then slowly gets up and hands the compact back to her. As she takes it back, she clasps her hand over his and withdraws it slowly and seductively. She mouths ‘Thank you.’ Joseph quickly turns away and starts to hurriedly place items back in the box. While he’s doing this, the first two paragraphs of the dialogue begins. After the second paragraph, Joseph gets up with the box and heads towards UP RIGHT to exit.
Potiphar’s wife stops him, and they stand face to face with the box between them. At the beginning of the fourth paragraph, (“You can do that after,”) Potiphar’s wife grabs the box from Joseph and throws it on the floor. If items spill out, they are to be left where they are.
During the whole dialogue, Joseph is constantly trying to ease away from Potiphar’s wife, while she continues to grab his hand and pull him nearer her, play with her hair, and make other manipulative gestures to try and win him over.
By the eleventh paragraph (“It can be our little secret…”) Potiphar’s wife has pulled Joseph to a nearby couch/bench and has sat him down. When she says “…here, undo my dress.” She swivels round bends her head and lifts up her hair so Joseph can pull her zip down. As soon as she does this, Joseph gets up forcefully and shouts “No!” Potiphar’s wife remains seated. From then on, Joseph’s tone of voice is assertive and confident.
As soon as Joseph completes the line that says, “…and I’m a God-fearing Jew.” Potiphar’s wife gets up and tries to grab Joseph from behind. She puts her arms around his neck as he begins to run off stage. With their backs facing the audience, she pulls off Joseph’s shirt then clutches it to her chest, laughing. She sits back down and stares at it for a while but as soon as she hears the sound of a door banging off-stage, she starts to frantically ruin her make-up to make it look as if she’s been crying for hours. (A bottle of water can be placed near the couch for this purpose) She smudges her lipstick across her face and grabs the mascara out of her make-up bag. She smears it around her eyes until she looks hideous. She then pulls at one of her shoulder straps, ripping it off at one end to make it look as if Joseph was trying to attack her (the dress has already been fixed so the strap comes away easily – maybe with Velcro). She sits back down and starts to practice a cry. Realising that Potiphar has not yet walked into the room, she stops, looks behind her and starts to cry again when she thinks he’s approaching. This happens twice before he finally enters from UP LEFT.
When Potiphar’s wife says, “Get out of that if you can.”, she is hiding behind Potiphar in mock fear of Joseph. Potiphar is oblivious to the fact that she is being smug.
The two jailers come on stage and stand either side of Joseph, holding onto an arm each. Before they pull Joseph away, there is a brief silence as Potiphar and Joseph stand staring at each other. Potiphar eventually looks down and away as if he caught a glimpse of innocence in Joseph’s eyes. He then glances at his wife who gives him no eye contact. She raises her head high and with an air of arrogance, leaves the stage. The lights dim, with Potiphar still standing where he is.
Scene Six
Joseph is sitting in a similar position to how he was when he was in the pit but this time, he recites the dialogue with the full lights on.
Scene Seven
No props are needed. Joseph and the Baker are sitting on the floor looking up at the Cupbearer who is walking around, gesticulating with his hands while he speaks. Joseph stands to deliver his dialogue. He walks around the Cupbearer while the Baker remains on the floor, getting increasingly agitated. The Baker jumps up and delivers his speech standing still. He uses his eyes to express his feelings and winces whiles recalling his dream.
As the dialogue ends, all three of them stand motionless. Joseph and the Cupbearer are staring at the Baker who is looking back at Joseph fearfully. He slowly moves his hand up to his neck, squeezes it gently then moves his hand down to his stomach, resting his other hand on top, as he looks down and closes his eyes. The lights dim.
Scene Eight
This consists of narration only. The lights dim and come on again for the narration of Scene Eight.
Scene Nine
The crowd of ten people are standing with their backs to the audience, from DOWN RIGHT to DOWN LEFT. They are shuffling about on their feet in an agitated manner, and everyone is holding at least one bag. One person leaves the stage as he has been given food by Joseph. The brothers are standing huddled together at the left side of the crowd and they move forward to the front when Joseph says, “Next.” They all fall to their knees and bow.
Scene Ten
Brief acting scenes take place during the narration of Scene Ten, therefore it is numbered from one to five below.
In Part One, the brothers are standing in the CENTRE, huddled together in a circle. They are occasionally flinging their arms into the air and beating their chests with one fist.
In Part Two, they leave the stage, looking down with their heads in their hands.
In Part Three of the narration, a spotlight goes up on Jacob who is seated UP LEFT and facing UP RIGHT. He is leaning forward on his knees with his head in his hands. Benjamin walks onto the stage from UP LEFT, looks down at his father and places a hand on his shoulder. Without looking up, Jacob removes his right hand from his head and gently pushes Benjamin forward who then walks off stage, exiting UP RIGHT. Jacob quickly leaves the stage.
In Part Four of the narration, all the brothers are on the upper part of the stage facing the audience. They are each holding a sack and Benjamin is in the middle. Joseph is standing in front of them, facing left so the audience can see what he is doing. He reaches into Benjamin’s sack while he’s still holding it and pulls out a silver cup. He holds it in the air while the brothers look round at one another, shocked. The spotlights stay up as Joseph leads Benjamin away by the arm and exits UP RIGHT.
During Part Five of the narration, the brothers exit the stage but are frightened and talking amongst themselves nervously wringing their hands, running their hands through their hair, and biting their nails.
Scene Eleven
Jacob stands UP LEFT facing the audience and looking at Joseph who is DOWN RIGHT at an angle, staring back at Jacob with his back partially facing the audience but they can see the right side of his face. Jacob is leaning on a walking stick (this can be either hand).
They both remain motionless, but Jacob wobbles a few times, and his hands shake out of shock and excitement more than old age.
When Jacob begins to praise God, he lifts one arm upwards towards the ceiling.
After Jacob says, “God gives the tormented peace of mind.” Joseph runs towards Jacob with his arms outstretched and Jacob drops his stick dramatically and takes two steps towards Joseph.
They then embrace for a considerable length of time – enough for it to have an impact on the audience. Joseph has his back to the audience and Jacob’s head is facing the audience, but it is buried in Joseph’s shoulder as he begins to sob.
After the embrace, Jacob and Joseph stay close together facing each other but turn slightly so that the audience can again see the right side of Joseph’s face. Jacob’s arms are outstretched, holding onto the arms of Joseph. Jacob bows his head and shakes it when he says, “…I was as good as dead…”
Occasionally, Jacob removes an arm from Joseph’s and puts his hand on his heart and closes his eyes. When he opens his eyes again, they are staring directly at Joseph.
After the last line, they embrace again then walk off stage while the Narrator speaks. There is no hurry for them to leave the stage. Jacob has his left arm around Joseph’s shoulder and Joseph’s right arm is around Jacob’s waist. The stick is forgotten and left on the floor.
