Tom Skelton and Tom GK have been best friends for a long time.
Their bond was strengthened after Tom Skelton lost his sight and Tom GK his hearing. They've created a show out of it... Called 'Did You Hear What I Saw?'. Tom GK has also put together and written a musical... 'Hearing Loss, The Musical!'. They'll both be performing multiple shows throughout Fringe World and beyond.
Here, the two friends chat about their shows.
A good part of the shows appear to be made for people with a disability or those touched by it... True or false?
Sort of. Some friendships are bonded by a shared love of football or politics, some by the fact that they both lose one of the big senses (sight and hearing) within a few years of each other. For us it was all three. The show is about living and thriving with our disabilities but it's also about how much better life is when you share a difficult adventure like this with your best friend.
Tom GK: What are some of the tools you use to compensate for your loss of hearing?
Denial was a big one to begin with. But it’s amazing how your subconscious can cover up a problem for ages. I have one relatively good ear (I’m totally deaf in the other) so I know where to sit, what side to walk down the street with my friend on to ensure I hear the person I’m with. Since November I’ve been wearing a hearing aid (until then I was a coward who thought wearing one would define me). It’s been such a big help and it’s really not a big deal… If you know someone with hearing loss get them to try one out!
Tom S: You were an actor before you were blind, and you're an actor after. How has your career trajectory changed since, if at all?
I was very much a student amateur/semi-professional actor before losing my sight so it's perhaps hard to know if the upward trajectory since is due to the sight loss! Despite some obvious difficulties and differences, I don't think things are that different for me as a performer career-wise. Immediately after losing a lot of my sight, some things were a lot harder; reading scripts whilst I was still grappling with learning the new assisted technologies, responding to visual cues on stage and having the confidence to put myself out there. However, it was also not as different after going blind as I had presumed and feared. The director of the improvisation troupe I was in at the time convinced me, despite my protestations, to try coming to a rehearsal after my sight loss. I found to my surprise and ecstasy that I could still do it! I could still make people laugh and continued to perform with the group which hugely helped my confidence. In improvised comedy, in some ways perhaps my visual impairment is a bit of an asset because performers are asked to imagine and create scenes and situations in a blank space and for me, maybe it's easier to imagine something like a table or a plate of food or a herd of wildebeest sweeping majestically because I can't see that they are not there. The improvised comedy really helped my confidence because it was the one thing that I could still do as well in the immediate aftermath of my sight loss when I had lost so much other independence and was coming to terms with living a different life.
Tell us about some of the silly songs.
TGK: Life’s better with a song and people seem to like them. And I've always loved nonsense poetry and people like Ivor Cutler. We have a theme tune, we’ve turned our first meeting into a bit of an opera. I used to be a music critic for a newspaper and like all music critics what I really wanted to be was a rock star… so I have hundreds of little tunes recorded and filed away… Doing 'Did You Hear What I Saw?' and my own show 'Hearing Loss: The Musical!' has given me a chance to dust hem off and give them a new life.
Can either of you sing?
TGK: Haha, wow. What a question. I’d say my voice is like a reasonable Paul McCartney impersonator singing songs from Broadway. Tom S? He’s like Nick Cave doing a Pavarotti impression after half a bottle of brandy. What’s more questionable is my keyboard playing but remember guys, my hearing’s terrible so it’s not my fault.
TS: Tom GK's description is the loveliest thing anyone's ever said about me. His voice is lovely. I might do a Bob Dylan impression in this show which you should all listen out for.
Over the last few years, it's noticeable that a larger profile of actors/artists are performing on a mainstream scale. For example in Aus we have wheelchair-bound rapper MC Wheels, blind Triple J radio announcer Nastasia Camparella... Have you noticed this in England and elsewhere too?
TS: I think this is definitely happening in the UK too. It feels like there are more plays/TV dramas/comedies and other things portraying and presenting different disabilities, although I might just be more aware of them since I have been writing and performing about my own disability. I do think this is true though. I think the culture has shifted and the London Paralympics in 2012 played a big part in that with the last leg being very popular with your very own Adam Hills. Disabled actors seem to have more opportunities now on TV and in films without storylines being centred around their disabilities. Hopefully this will continue so that disabled people are regarded more than their disability.
What have been some of the rewards when it comes to putting these shows together?
TGK: Remembering some of the stupid and lovely moments we’ve spent together. Making each other laugh a lot – I’ve not written in such an intimate way with someone before. With 'Hearing Loss: The Musical!' it was an opportunity to sit people down and sing and dance but also tell people about my story (I was diagnosed with a filthy disease called NF2 six years ago). It felt brilliant to take that control and turn something which scared me for a long time into something which is essentially a stupid little comedy story – take that NF2!
TS: After over a quarter of a century of laughing together, it's been lovely to be crafting that into a show and trying to make other people laugh too.
Share a few of your favourite/funniest moments performing on stage.
TGK: I played Tom a tune I’ve been playing about with when we were warming up before one of our previews. “Get it in” he said and get it in I did… I think there might be a few moments when we crowbar little bits into the show during the run and some of them are going to work really well. Not sure that bit did.
TS: There have often been lovely farcical moments that we can then incorporate into the show whether purposefully or accidentally where I can't see a gesture Tom is making or Tom can't hear something I am saying.
