The Sound Of Waves focuses on Shelly, a normal girl who unexpectedly finds herself becoming more fish-like everyday until she decides to take refuge in the sea. One day, finding that the sea is not enough, she now must search for a way to walk on land again.
Some six years in the making, the allegorical play tells the tale of performer/creator Jodie Harris losing her hearing, receiving a cochlear implant and the impact that had on her life. She worked closely with writer Gareth Ellis and director Naomi Edwards on the piece. At the age of six, Jodie Harris’ parents witnessed her racing around the house, panicked, unable to hear them, and it was soon confirmed she had a moderate to severe hearing loss.
She would later come to rely on well developed lip reading skills through the next 23 years of her life, as her hearing gradually progressed to a profound loss. It was an incredibly exhausting challenge, and required vast amounts of concentration to stay connected with people and the community. As time went by, Jodie began to retreat further and further from those she loved, and from the world. Then, on the 11th of June 1999, Jodie became the recipient of a cochlear implant, as a research patient. What followed was years of hard work, discovery, and finding her voice again.
