“A brief summary of the major similarities of the two works:
Let Me Hear You Whisper AND The Shape of Water:
The main character is a quiet, introverted female custodian who works the graveyard shift in a laboratory.
Set in the 1960s during the Cold War, at a laboratory where experiments for military use are taking place.
The custodian discovers a tank with an aquatic creature who is being experimented on.
The custodian and the aquatic creature fall in love, a transformative love which enables both of them to be heard.
She wins his trust by sneaking food into the lab and feeding him.
She dances to music on a record with her mop while the creature looks on and their bond grows deeper.
She is treated in a dehumanizing way by her superiors at the laboratory.
She discovers that the scientists who run the lab want to use the creature as a military weapon if they can get him to cooperate but if not, he is to be vivisected for research purposes.
She decides to rescue the creature and release him to the sea by sneaking him out of the facility in a laundry cart.”
The major difference seems to be that in the play the creature is a dolphin, while in the movie the creature is the creature from the Black Lagoon, only sexy.
In Paul Zindel’s play does she put the dolphin in her bathtub and have sex with it?