“A rare disease, a music critic who always dreamt of being on stage, a triumphant premiere at Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Tom GK: Hearing Loss, The Musical! is as unlikely as it is compelling.”
That certainly does sound compelling, so we contacted Tom GK to find out more.
SAT: Tom, your media release really has piqued our attention. We’d like to find out more about how your life changed from your dream job as a music critic to the writer and performer of this musical about hearing loss. Firstly, can you tell us about your dream job?
TGK: I became a music journalist after working on all the student magazines at university. After I graduated I couldn’t find a clear path to writing about music so I decided to stand outside newspaper offices with business cards for a blog I’d written. It got quite a bit of attention in the UK and I ended up getting my foot in the door.
SAT: Sounds pretty exciting! Have you got any stories you can share with us about the celebs?
TGK: Once, when I was a student I went to the cinema and realised I was In the queue with Nick Cave. I ended up being one of three journalists (someone from the Daily Telegraph, Zane Lowe for the BBC and yours truly, the music editor of Sussex University’s student newspaper, The Badger. During my interview disaster happened and my dictaphone broke. That could have been a sucker punch for a 20-year-old fledgling writer but Nick Cave was wonderful. He sent the drummer off to fix my equipment while he and I had a cup of tea and discussed my English Literature degree. He is an absolute gentleman.
SAT: At what point did you realise something serious was happening to your hearing?
TGK: I was in bands at school and, when I was 17, I realised I was getting a lot of buzzing in my ears. I just felt very guilty thinking I must have really damaged them but my friends seemed fine. I guess that was the first evidence, But young people don’t expect to be ill so I just ignored it. It was seven years after that I finally got the diagnosis.
SAT: That must have been incredibly frightening. What sort of tests did you undergo and how long did the diagnosis take?
TGK: I get six monthly MRI scans and as I have tumours of interest in my head and all the way down my spine, the scans take over an hour. But yes, the initial diagnosis was really scary. Your future is suddenly turned to ‘bleak’, there’s literally nothing you can do to make it better and there’s so many doctors to see. Until the chemotherapy drug treatment came along I thought I was going to need surgery and watching surgeons look at your head knowing that they are working out how to cut it open is just grotesque.
SAT: Can you describe some of the challenges you have faced from hearing loss and how have you found the support of family and friends?
TGK: I have problems hearing, occasionally walking – thanks to my balance, seeing ( I get double vision when I look high and low) and I have developed a very painful condition called trigeminal neuralgia too. It’s a lot but my friends are so good, patient with me and always know where I should sit, for example, so that I will hear as much as possible when we go to a bar or restaurant. They’ve been there through bouts of anxiety and depression too, probably putting up with me being a bit of a twat/dick/wally/arse. I’ve been diagnosed for seven years now and without fail I look back each year at the person I was twelve months before and think “God, I’m coping a hell of a lot better than that guy”. The friendships I have really did get me through. I’m doing another show here called Did You Hear What I Saw with Tom Skelton. We’ve been best friends since our first day at school and since then he’s lost most of his eyesight and I’ve lost most of my hearing. We’ve been Sherpas for each other.
SAT: I heard a rumour that every music critic secretly wants to be on stage. Now is your big chance! What does it feel like up there on the stage?
TGK: Great! I’ve written hundreds of little songs over the years and never really had an outlet. Some of the songs in the show are reusing little tunes and melodies I remember first playing around with when I was five years old and first mucking about on the piano at home. When I was first diagnosed and thought that total deafness was imminent, one of the things which really worried me was that all these years of scribbles and noodling would never be developed. So there’s a relief in it too.
SAT: How did you come up with the idea of creating a musical?
TGK: Back when I was diagnosed, my sister was going through her high school exams and doing a lot of revision. At the weekends I’d come hope and we’d both fall in to the sofa and put the TV. We started off with Doctor Who but pretty quickly started watching old musicals. There was something very therapeutic about watching Fred and Ginger floating around the stage singing and dancing and it was one of the first things which really got me feeling better. So I had the songs, I had the inspiration and I had the stories: it had to be a musical.
SAT: What can audiences expect from this musical?
TGK: A great story, a happy ending (which I won’t go into too much), songs which everybody tells me are impossible to get out of your head afterwards and most importantly a good fun time. Oh, and then there’s the laughing… it’s mainly about the laughing.
SAT: You’ve mentioned that hearing loss is a taboo subject in our society. What are some of the questions people are too afraid to ask?
TGK: I think it’s more that people are scared of having hearing loss and see it as a incurable mark of isolation and age. When people suffer from hearing loss, like many disabilities, people can assume you are stupid too. So I think we just need to tell people that:
1. The quicker you get to a doctor the better.
2. Hearing aids are no more of a deal than glasses are.
3. Don’t mock people when they mishear things.
4. Talk about your challenges.
There’s almost certainly a lot more, but I think getting these messages across would be a good start.
SAT: Your musical was a hit in Edinburgh Fringe; what were the audience reactions?
TGK: A lot of laughing and quite a few tears, which being the manipulative sociopathic performer of a biographical show that I am, I was very proud of. There were a few people who came along with my disease, NF2, and they were probably the audience members I was most pleased to see. We are drenched (rightly) with information on cancer, heart disease and other conditions but when I was diagnosed I felt like every time I spoke about it I had to get into the minutiae of human genetics. For these audience members it was a chance to see someone talk publicly about exactly what they’re going through too.
SAT: What is ahead for you after Adelaide Fringe?
TGK: Some festivals in the UK and leading up to the Edinburgh Fringe again. I’m also going to start work with some young people in the UK with NF2 to show them that this isn’t a disease which needs to stop you doing something you love.
SAT: As a critic, could you offer any recommendations of shows (aside from yours obviously), to see this Fringe?
TGK: Tom Skelton is both a friend and a bloomin’ good comedian. His one-man Macbeth is great connect the bard and Rik Mayall in venn diagram of hilarity. The Improvised Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is great too. One final plug for me, I’m in Aaaaad now for more Kiddo Kaos at Adelaide too which was described as “world class” in Perth, which slightly undersells it .
Tom GK: Hearing Loss The Musical is on:
Feb 19-28 (excluding 25) at:
Main Room at A Club Adelaide
109 – 111 Waymouth St, Adelaide
A Club Adelaide has a signing staff member on site most of the time to assist hearing impaired patrons.
Tickets can be purchased here:
https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/tom-gk-hearing-loss-the-musical-af2019
