FROM “TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND”
Tiptoe through the tulips
© Chloe Johnston
Dina is on voiceover. Over the course of the play, Chloe is walking slowly across the stage towards a ukulele and a chair.
Dina: There is something about ukuleles. Ukuleles are not sexy instruments, they are not guitars or saxophones or even drums. They conjure images of Don Ho and Tiny Tim. The real guy, not the Dickens character. Neither are sexy. They only have four strings and they never stay in tune. They make everything sound Hawaiian.
Slight pause. CHLOE starts playing some chords.
Ukuleles are small. When you walk into a music store and see the sea of guitars hanging like impaled butterflies on the wall, it may be difficult to find the ukuleles. Look to the left of the banjoes. Look past the long-haired hottie strumming some Neil Young with his eyes-closed on an instrument he can’t afford this month. He sure as hell isn’t looking at the ukuleles, but that’s okay.
Very slight pause.
There are girls who can sing. There are girls who can dance. There are girls who can write poems that make you see the sunrise, that will make you weep. There are girls with legs that go on like a long weekend that will make you weep. And maybe you were born under a different star.
Slight pause. CHLOE starts singing quietly
Maybe you are a girl who just wants to play the ukulele. It’s easy to find out. When you close your eyes, can you feel the spotlight?
Slowly, the lights start to fade to just spot on CHLOE.
Can you hear the sound of a thousand silent people? Can you feel their eyes on you? And are you giving them all that love in each strum of the four strings, in each broken-voiced note?
And then you remember, Marilyn Monroe played the ukulele, too.
CHLOE sings quietly, playing the ukulele, as the lights fade.