Song & Dance of a 3-Time Cancer Survivor

歌舞慶重生第十一段《你並不孤單》

在我最需要有人的時候卻是冷清清的，我不得不獨自作戰。痊癒了，我還要去同情和理解那些沒來看我的人！我學會了接受和尋找到新力量。這段包含適合寫主題曲的歌詞。女主唱出感到無助孤單和內心悲苦。男主感覺不易與病重的親人彼此坦言實情。但眾人的合唱却是充滿正能量的。

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.

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:

POSTLUDE BOUQUETS

with an unexpected CODA . . .

To see this act in its entirety with production ideas and performance materials etc., see my creative PhD thesis pp. 368-388, Chapter Five 5.11 Act Eleven.

Related music scores

HEROINE'S SONG

YOU ARE NOT ALONE《你並不孤單》various versions

See Score 3 相關樂譜