Hearing Loss: The Musical

‘Hearing Loss: The Musical’ at Edinburgh Fringe

The musical, written by hearing loss sufferer Tom GK, will be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe festival (2nd – 26th August 2018).

Tom Gockelen-Kozlowski (AKA Tom GK) is a writer, comedian and former music critic. 2018 is Tom’s third run at the Edinburgh Fringe. Writing for NME, he said:

I made the decision to give up being a music critic – my dream job – between songs at a Foo Fighters gig in 2011.  No, I don’t like them that much either, but my decision had nothing to do with Dave Grohl and his chums. The problem was with me and, more specifically, my ears.’

Tom GK had started writing about music when he joined the student newspaper at university, which led to writing reviews for The Daily Telegraph and being asked to review Bob Dylan.

All this time, however, there was something Tom had been ignoring: his hearing loss.

He was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis II (NF2): a rare disease which creates tumours near the ears. The disease has left him deaf in his left ear with reduced hearing in his right.

Not one to give up on his passions so easily though, Tom GK wrote and is performing in Hearing Loss: The Musical: a cheery ‘up yours!’ to NF2 as Tom continues to live his life, as well as encouraging people to look into any changes they’ve noticed and quietly ignoring.

Although the musical won’t be accessible in British Sign Language at Edinburgh Fringe, Tom made the following statement:

At the moment I’m telling my story. It takes so long for people – me included – to seek help and I’m hoping that me coming up as a one-man-band and telling people how stupid, scared and ignorant I was about hearing loss might change that just a little. Now it’s starting to get attention and audiences are growing I’m hoping that BSL and subtitled shows will be feasible when the show gets performed post-Fringe and the budget isn’t dictated by my overdraft“.

You can follow Tom GK on Twitter (here and here) and Facebook. Click here for performance and ticket information.

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Independent writer, volunteer and performer from Lancashire, England. May every day be GEP: Good, Exciting and Productive!

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