| What the audience said | "Brilliant and so true to life" – Lin from Plymouth "Some bits were exaggerated but some were very true" - Maisara from Plymouth "Good singing, weak ending" – Ben from Derriford "Very sharp and funny, and I suspect much of it rings true" - Rebecca from Ivybridge |
NHS The Musical!
Drum Theatre, Plymouth
Until 27th May 2006 (7.45pm)
Tickets £10
Box Office: 01752 267222 God Bless The NHS... Whether you've had to be patient as a patient or are an overworked medical practitioner you will recognise the symptoms. Shortage of beds, endless waiting lists, number crunching bureaucracy and the pain of having to deliver and receive the ultimate bad news diagnosis. Infectious Laughter But laughter is the best medicine and so Nick Stimson and Jimmy Jewell have created a wonderfully funny work, full of guts and gusto, that delighted the packed theatre. Derriford Hospital must have had a staff shortage as I'm sure many doctors and nurses were in the audience! Endless jokes and word-play litter the lyrics while the band of three in the corner bash out the tunes. The small and very talented cast make quick costume changes to play all the roles. There's; the hypochondriac, the boozy smoker who's a heart attack waiting to happen, the super fit young cancer victim and the elderly man who will have a long wait for his hip op. The Hospital Sweepstake The NHS sweepstake was an inspired moment with the patients running in slow motion for appointment letters to see who gets priority treatment. At key moments the face of Patricia Hewitt appears on the cracked façade of the hospital wall … and we all know what nurses think of her! Yildinz Hussein plays the platitudinous politician with a smile that couldn't be surgically removed. And Ashleigh Gray is the clipboard wielding and much dreaded hospital administrator to who sees only targets and ratings rather than human suffering. But the pharmaceutical rep has a pill to solve all the problems! As Nick Stimson, the writer and director of NHS the Musical, put it: "NHS the musical! is a living autopsy of the vast body that has become our Health Service." NHS the Musical - a Drum production - is just the tonic needed...recommended, but tickets might be as rare as a germ free hospital. | 
