Song & Dance of a 3-Time Cancer Survivor
Act 11
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
Feeling deserted by friends in her hour of need the Heroine is forced to find a new strength to fight alone. The illness at last overcome, she begins to appreciate that her friends have their own difficulties too, and she starts to re-evaluate the meaning of love and friendship.
Heroine’s opening speech:
Many friends, including old friends and those I thought were good friends, did not visit me during my battle with cancer…
Perhaps people were afraid?
Perhaps it’s human nature not wanting to be in places where there can’t be much fun?
Perhaps the demands of life make us not want to get involved…?
Perhaps this was a good thing after all –
it forced me to be strong…
seeing weakness in others.
Ha! The cancer patient is the one to sympathise and understand…friends, old friends and good friends…
Heroine’s song
No infection –
you need no protection.
Yet where are you, my friend?
Have you flown?
And am I left to moan,
alone, all alone?
My demeanour is courageous,
my condition, not contagious,
yet where are you, old friend?
Have you flown?
And am I left to groan,
alone, all alone?
It’s quite outrageous –
I’m not contagious.
Yet where are you, my good friend?
Have you flown?
And am I left to moan,
alone, all alone?
I sustain a smile in company;
my demeanour is courageous;
my condition, not contagious,
yet you who spoke of love have flown.
I am left to groan and moan,
alone, all alone.
Who rings the bell?
It’s me, it’s me.
But no-one comes –
They flee, they flee,
and flee, from me.
Am I left to moan and groan,
alone, all alone?
If I show too much need,
no one comes –
they flee
from my need, my need,
leaving me to groan and moan,
alone, all alone.
Though I can’t infect you,
no mask will protect you
from the gloom
that stalks my room.
You, my friend, my old friend, my good friend,
and you who spoke of love,
did I not see your need, your need?
Chorus:
You are not alone.
Survive, and be well.
In the journey through cancer,
you meet new people,
who are kind and helpful.
In the journey through cancer,
you meet new friends,
who are there for you,
on whom you can depend.
In the journey through cancer,
you find new strength,
you learn to accept
and empathise with friends, old friends, good friends…
Survive, and be well.
When you are well again,
you will see friends, old friends and good friends again,
and those who spoke of love.
Survive, and be well.
( Relevant music videos, You Are Not Alone in two versions:
1. Flute, cello, choir and animation
2. Cello quartet for one player )
Male lead:
Someone dear to me got cancer – I’m uncomfortable to talk about it for many reasons… but I will reflect on this, and it’s about self-deception and its consequences… I felt great strain… and I also felt guilty… I was exhausted…
Male lead’s song (N.B. This song was written by Mike Greenhough):
How could she come so far
and get so near
and not know the secret cause of pain?
How could we know and they know
and not tell,
and not be asked?
If she feared
she would fear to ask,
but ask she would.
If she did not ask
then she surely knew.
But how could she, knowing,
not show the knowledge?
And now no longer
but all knowing,
visited only in dreams
across the decades
she still preserves
this precarious equilibrium,
the inscrutable face of one lingering
in the land of the excluded middle.
All I know
is one day we will meet once more
in the land of the excluded middle.
where time has dissolved all secrets.
Time has a way with secrets
Our judgement forever suspended
Heroine:
Fond memory of any person is a real treasure no matter what.
(With irony) Funny thing, sometimes being alone is not necessarily a bad thing –
even during the battle with cancer –
as there are people one would rather not see…
(In MY PhD thesis it includes A QUIRKY TWIST for You Are Not Alone that introduces... surprise, surprise – ALIENS!)
_ _ _
At the end of performances bouquets are usual...
See next, Act 12:
with an unexpected CODA...