Three nurses stand at the front of the stage. They speak to us in words derived from fifty interviews. Each of the three has a journey to tell but many things they say reflect a common pressure that is felt by most health workers.
It takes us from the reasons they became nurses to their experience of hospital work. Three impressive actors give a fine, riveting performance that is at times incredibly moving.
There are things that encourage them to love the job. Nurse 1 (Alasdair Linn) describes a time when he “used to spend whole nights talking to this guy about all the things he would do when he was better."
That felt so helpful, but a lot of the work can be upsetting. He adds that “you will cry for the first six months of your career.”
Twenty minutes into the show, COVID hits the country. Nurse 2 (El Blackwood) tells us everything “seemed futuristic with ventilator alarms going off constantly. People shouting for help.”
It still makes her emotional to think back to “relatives begging me” to let them see a patient. “And I said it isn't in my power… he died that night.”
Nuse 3 (Stella Saltibus) recalls her sisters crying when they saw her sunken eyes and the red rash she had developed on her face from constantly wearing a mask.
They are all constantly tired. One fell asleep in a cupboard. Another en route suddenly froze in her car near the Elephant and Castle. The strain had become too much. She pulled over to the side of the road and decided she had to give up the job. It was a decision that made her cry and feel ashamed.
The uplifting moment of the play is a nurses' strike when they walk to a bus garage that is also on strike. It felt so necessary, even though they might spend six hours on a picket line. As Nurse 2 points out, “nurses are striking because patients are dying.”
One story that we hear in fragments is of a 15-year-old girl whose prospects seem desperate. And yet, even in terrible situations, something good can happen.
This extraordinarily powerful documentary drama charts very effectively the heartbreaking story of nurses in Britain today. Everybody should see it.