SEE THE SOUND

A short play of mine below, I hope you enjoy.

A bit of context.  I`m completely deaf in my left ear,  and my right is a bit quiet as well!

So if I do meet you and you speak to me, please don`t think I`m ignoring you if I don`t answer, I probably haven`t heard.

More work and information on my website.  https://tmurraytg.wordpress.com/

 SEE THE SOUND   

 Characters.

Male : Both mid-thirties/forties.

Synopsis

Characters are two ears from the same person. One is completely deaf and doesn’t speak but uses movement to communicate with its twin ear. Other ear is going gradually deaf and is afraid of the coming silence.

When the Deaf ear plays the drum, it is silent.

When Good ear plays the drum the sounds he is referring to are heard.

Two ears.

GE-- Ear that can hear. 

DE-- Deaf ear. 

 No set.

GE— (To audience.) I’m the ear that can hear! I’m not putting him down or anything. In case that’s what you’re thinking. Just a point of information. (DE curls into a ball.) The silence gets to him every now and again. I try to cajole him out of it. Be the good brother. We sometimes play the sound game.  But truth is, it gets to me. It reminds me you know.  I shouldn’t let it get to me but…I’m glad he’s not up for that today. The way I think of things…Everyone deals with things differently don’t they?  When my silence descends…I’ll… (Indicates brother.)…Not me. It’s just the way things are. I’ll carry on regardless. Down the Eustachian Tube to the nose and up to my… (Indicates DE)…twin. Ear to ear. That’s how things should work.  It’s a sort of talking to each other really.  How we identify sounds. Pinpoint where they`re coming from.  We used to help each other. A bang next to me and I’d warn him. And together we’d turn the noise down a bit and…Save the ears. Us.  Now all the…Bang. Bang. Bang. All on me and I don`t mind saying it’s taking its toll. 
I’ll be glad when it`s all over if the truth be told.  Might as well turn the sound down to zero and to hell with it. (DE sits up and mimics playing the drum. GE TO DE) I’m not in the mood brother. (DE continues to mimic playing the drum frantically this time.  GE reluctantly begins to play the drum slowly.) See what a good brother you’ve got. ( Sound as GE describes what he hears.) The beginning of raindrops, tapping on a window pain.  (DE reacts as if remembering. GE drums progressively faster.) Then the more insistent rap. Huge puddles falling from the sky, the window vibrating sound throughout the house. Can you feel it brother?  (As if GE ear to the window. To audience.) Thunder from the heavens pounding at my ear drums.  It hurts me.  But only a vibration for him.

(GE stops drumming.  DE upset urges to go on.)

GE—(To other ear.) I can’t. It hurts. The sound hurts. (DE doesn’t understand.  GE mimics being in pain.  DE in a huff.) I know you got the raw deal brother.  But not everything’s rosy for me you know. (To audience.) Brother or no brother sometimes…I’ve been the lucky one.  I get that. I’ve had years of sound.  But he can understand more than he lets on. He can be a selfish little...(DE mimics drums. GE to DE, angry.) Okay I hear you. (DE upset, GE tries to calm DE mimics drums angrily. GE bangs drums furiously, it hurts him, but he keeps going.)  See what you made me do. It`s okay for you. I’m the one that can hear, can feel, be hurt.  It’s not all raindrops on windows.  It’s not just about you.  It’s my memories as well. They slapped me around the ear as well you know.  ‘Can you hear now deafy`Well I could.  I had to suffer because of you. I hated school as well you know. We’re stuck with each other in more ways than one.   (GE stops drumming. DE shaking.) Sorry. I didn’t mean…I know you can feel. I know. I know.  (DE drums furiously) I`m sorry okay. (They go in a huff with each other. GE to audience.) Ten years old when he first started to show the symptoms. (DE taps the drum, indicates around them. GE to DE.) Here?  (DE taps drum.) I’m listening. Patience will you! Things are distant sounding.  Like underwater. (GE drums.) The rustle of leaves. I think. Or am I hearing myself?  The rustle of nerve ends. The last hurrah maybe.  (GE stops drumming. DE drums.) Okay I’m sorry for having a moment to myself.  What else, what else? (GE drums.) Mother’s footsteps. Her foot tapping on the floorboards in the hall, as she gets our coat on for school. 
Remember how she used to sing to get us out the door?  The song?  What was the song? (GE remembers.) Got it. 
(Sings own version of. ‘Should I stay or should I go.’)

``Should we stay or should we go.

To school now.

It’s time for us to go now.``

(They both dance and march as if marching out the door to school. DE mouths words.  GE sings.)

GE—

‘To school now.
Time for us to go now.

(They repeat the last two lines and dance then stop suddenly, mood changes to sad.)

(GE plays drums very slowly as if the slow death march of feet.)

GE— The heavy feet on the cold floor of the chapel as they carried her out.  Sometimes I wish I had been the one that had gone deaf. I can still hear the crying.  The whispering so we wouldn’t hear. I did. ‘She was a fighter.’ (Stops playing the drums.) I am frightened of the silence brother. There I’ve said it. (To audience.) I don’t know how he does it. Will we lose our past when the sounds go? They never found out why my twin lost his hearing.  They couldn’t stop it.  They can’t stop mine. The ear that can hear will soon no longer be.  But we’re fighters.  We can survive the silence. Together. No choice. (DE plays drums.) But not silent yet eh brother. (GE taps the drum.) I need a memory to take with me.

(DE stops playing and starts to flap his arms gracefully like a bird. GE taps the drum.)

GE— The sound of the swans rising from the water, the rumbling air caught in their graceful, powerful wings. The flap of their wings like a band of drums. Got their own little Eustachian Tube from one to the other. I play the drum now and it sounds as if packed full of muffled rags. (DE drums furiously.) We need more. Struggling umbrellas.  Sighs and curses. We can hear those.  We won’t miss those. Ducks quaking in joy.  Or maybe the swans have come back.  No, ducks.  Different sound altogether.  But now…Merging? No.  Ducks. The rattling wheel of the ice cream vendor.  We’ll always remember that. Mother sighing. ‘Okay then. Just the one.  And you’d better be fit for your dinner!’ The wind kicking paper and cans along the ground. That used to be so loud.  Chairs getting dragged inside the café.  We hate that sound. The metal gates hinges groaning with hands pulling at the cold metal.  The crack of thunder. A baby giggling. We remember our giggle. Can you see the sound?  Can you see it brother?

(GE drums slower and slower gradually going silent. GE tries to hear but is now deaf as well.)

(GE is in despair and curls up into a ball. DE starts to dance/march like they did for the song—‘ Should I stay or should I go.’ GE gets up slowly and reluctantly joins in, and they both sing, and play the drums, in silence.)