OOH Matron! – The world of medicine has proved a rich vein of dramatic material for centuries. From the intense doctor’s dilemmas as in AJ Cronin’s The Citadel, to the soapy lives and loves of medical folk as in TV’s Dr Kildare to the knockabout farce in the Carry On films – not to mention the high-octane incidents a-plenty from the likes of Holby City, and Casualty – health dramas continue to engage, challenge, thrill and entertain across the genres. I’m sure it’s inspired more than a few of us to look at a career in the medical profession and there’s nothing like real life from which to create the funniest and most moving moments for humankind, which is what Vamos Theatre has done with Nursing Lives.
The Worcestershire-based company has taken the stories of nurses working at the Worcester Royal Infirmary and turned them into a heart-warming and uplifting production which serves as a real tribute to the profession and all those in it. Via the central character of Rosie, we follow the progress of a young trainee who embarks on her nursing career, just as Britain pitches into maelstrom of World War II.
With her we not only experience the trials and tribulations of falling foul of matron, we laugh with her at the jokes played by her fellow nurses, we sigh as she falls for her soldier sweetheart and we watch, gripped, as she wrestles with ethical dilemmas over the use of the latest super drug – penicillin.
Although the production uses actors, they sport full-face masks, which is a little bizarre when you first see it – but it works and the whole affair is a mix of puppetry, dance and song with music helping to evoking the 1940s wartime era in spades.
It’s a visual treat during which you’ll laugh, you’ll cry but most of all you’ll love it – whether you’re eight or 80.
Nursing Lives is touring until April 2011. Details can be found at www.vamostheatre.webeden.co.uk
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