Metronome (script)

Momentum of the Metronome

By Martin Hopley

Whenever a school asks me to, I give a talk to their pupils about when I was 14, I was diagnosed with a brain tumour, the condition worsened and then by the age of 17 I was told I was dying.

As part of my talk, I tell kids that to find the inner strength to pick up the phone and ask someone for help required going through a complicated psychological metamorphosis which was too long to explain. In truth, it's not just long but very difficult to explain and how I managed to start the change, I'll never know. But what I do know, I can now pass on in the following script.

Back in 2001, I was sitting on Star Sand Beach on Iriomote Island towards the southern tip of the Japanese archipelago. It was February so mid winter and I had embarked on travelling around a country that not only I had dreamed of visiting but had barely learned the language of. Because it was my first time travelling alone and only 4 years after I had been diagnosed terminally ill from a brain tumour, my parents were naturally very apprehensive to let me do anything on my own. However, during those 4 years I had not only managed to stop the growth and reduce the size of the tumour, I had also been abroad with family and friends thus slowly regaining my family's belief that I would be OK. So with the blessing and prayers of my family along with a letter from my surgeon stating that I'm not likely to have a relapse, I embarked on what turned out to be a journey from the Northern most island of Hokkaido to one of the Southern most islands of Iriomote jima and back. To say I was taking a risk would be fair but it was a journey of self discovery and one I felt I needed to do.

Winter in Japan meant I had the entire beach to myself as no-one else was stupid enough to go there but it gave me time to think and reflect on what I had been through and it was there under the Pacific blue skies that I could see a pattern in my life and what I had experienced that ultimately made me search in the Yellow Pages for someone who could help.

It was only a moment of self conflict and inspiration but it was enough; and with my creative writing skills, I scribbled down the outline of a script that I hoped would give the audience not only an insight into what it felt like, but hopefully allow them to feel a fraction of the mental pain, trauma and relief that I went through once and after I had been told I was terminally ill. I chose the script format as it helped me explain exactly what I see when I think of this moment in my life.

A predominantly deaf girl, Rebecca Brookes, read my script and was so inspired that she rewrote it as a play for a deaf audience for her final year drama project and passed with flying colours. If I can, I'd like other students and artists to feel free to do the same with my life story as there's plenty of creative energy to feed off and I want this script to remain free for all to read and copy on the basis that I and my original story are credited. A free ticket to the opening performance would also be appreciated.

Some stories are too close to home for some people. Sadly, this is home for me and as much as I hate reading it, I will always return to it.

Metronome

By Martin Hopley

ACT 1

Out of darkness, a suited figure steps towards a slowly descending camera under a spotlight. He's wearing sunglasses but his hat and the vertical angle of the spotlight casts a shadow that shrouds most of his face except his mouth and chin. He stops at a white table after a few seconds and starts a metronome at 60 bpm.

Timekeeper

You'd think being born into a fair society and given a fair education would mean you'd have a fair start in life.