About the Play:

You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Male Scenes.

You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running is a full-length comedy by Robert Anderson. An evening of four one-acts about sex and relationships, which was one of the most successful comedies in Broadway history. In The Shock of Recognition, a respected playwright decides to add a new scene to his latest play. The Footsteps of Doves deals with a couple arguing over ditching their double bed for two singles. In I'll Be Home for Christmas, two suburban parents struggle over how to communicate the facts of life to their children. In I'm Herbert, two old people get confused about their past marital lives. The plays may be presented separately or as an evening of entertainment.

The Shock of Recognition has a theatre setting with a young playwright insisting that his stage directions for male nudity in one scene be followed, while a conservative middle-aged producer resists his demands. An actor auditioning for the role, however, is more than eager to follow the writer's text. As the New York Daily News briefly outlines: "The Shock of Recognition breaks in on a difference of opinion between…an earnest young dramatist and…his matter-of-fact producer who doesn't like the opening moment of the play. A wife is having breakfast in bed and she says something to her husband, who is in the bathroom. So he comes out, jaybird naked, and yells to her. 'You know I can't hear you when the water's running.' The producer doesn't think this confrontation is quite nice or necessary. The author insists that the scene is quite important – and, after all, it lasts only an instant. So a quarrel over taste develops, and a job-hunting actor…becomes involved. He eagerly begins to strip, demonstrating how he would handle the role. Also involved is…the producer's secretary…." (Cast: 1 female, 3 male)

The Footsteps of Doves shows us a couple who have been married for 25 years looking at a new bed or beds to replace their double bed. Should they buy twin beds or a double? The husband doesn't want to make the change, but the wife is adamant that she wants a single bed. They don't get much sales effort from the salesperson who has seen it all. Into the discussion, uninvited, comes a young woman…who wants a big bed because she is all alone. (Cast: 2 female, 2 male)

I'll be Home for Christmas maintains the light humour of the first two, but at base it is serious and touching. It shows parents discussing their almost-adult children. Their daughter has discovered sex, so it's time for that age-old discussion. But the father has something else weighing on him that he won't discuss, the fact that his son is rebuking everything Dad wants for him and expects of him. The play reminds the audience of the joys of parenting teenagers and a sticky job that most people will have to face. (Cast: 2 female, 1 male)

For a windup there is I'm Herbert about two old, old people sitting on a porch in a pair of rocking chairs and talking. Just talking – and of course they don't know how funny they are. Each has had one or more previous marriages and perhaps a few flings, but they are hazy as to details. In fact, they don't always know which one the other one is. (Cast: 1 female, 1 male)

You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running premiered in 1967 at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and ran for nearly two years on Broadway. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and been performed in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

What people say:

"…a masterly light touch… we have a delightful gift of springtime in the Broadway theatre." — New York Daily News

"The best and brightest new American play of the season…." — New York World Journal Tribune

"…notably fine comic and dramatic episodes, written with skill and insight…." — New York Post

About the Playwright:

Robert Woodruff Anderson (1917-2009) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and theatre producer. Born in New York City, he received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard University, where he began writing for the stage. He was among the theatre's most visible, serious playwrights of the 1950s and 1960s with six plays on Broadway between 1953 and 1971. He was also a superb screenwriter, twice nominated for an Oscar, but it was his stage work that brought him the most fame. His plays have been produced professionally and in community and college theatres all over the world.