HER Productions and Alex Keelan presented six short plays under the umbrella of ‘Six letters to the NHS’.
The first presentation was titled ‘Day One’ by Clara Darcy and Directed by Martha Simon, starring Erin Riley and Sarah White featuring voice overs by Leah Marks, Joel Parry and Charlotte Faragher. The play depicts the journey of an ambulance call centre worker’s first day on the job. The play was funny and witty but also displayed the seriousness and high pressure of this difficult role. Fresh eyed and eager to help, the new employee soon realises with guidance and advice of her established supervisor that the job isn’t easy to navigate with a high burnout rate of two years. Two thirds of their calls are falls from the elderly and a high level of mental health crises with little resources to help this vulnerable group. The established call centre worker has become desensitised to the calls and has lost some empathy of her early days in the role; however, the new colleague soon reminds her why she started this job with a highly emotional call of someone giving birth on the other end of the line. The play was hard hitting but with a great amount of humour to lighten the seriousness of the message of the strain the call handlers face on a daily basis.
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The second presentation was titled ‘Do’s and Don’ts of the Date’ by Ifeoma Uzo and Directed by Yanni Ng, starring Ester Ugiri as Maggie a 27-year-old nurse looking for love on a dating app and Fejiro Emasiobi a testicular cancer patient who is ready to date again following his treatment but is concerned about his fertility in the future. The play navigates through the difficulties of dating through reflection of previous experiences. By a chance of fate, he meets Maggie three years following a date that ended by him ghosting her due to his cancer diagnosis. They meet whilst out running and then try to rekindle where they left off. The play was a little flat for me personally and I didn’t find myself engaged in the plot or what the script was trying to deliver. I felt the nurse was quite irrelevant and it could have been more focused on dating after a testicular cancer diagnosis and the fear or rejection due to infertility.
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Before the interval the third play was ‘Unit H6’ by Rosa Hesmondhalgh and Directed by Amy Drake, starring Louisa May Parker as Meryl a Youth Support Coordinator on an oncology ward for people aged 18-27 years, Maya Dhokia as Carly a regular inpatient due to Osteosarcoma and Melisa Parker as Ella a new patient to the unit with ovarian cancer. Meryl provides lots of enthusiasm and laughter to her pizza evenings and Carly quickly learns the importance of friendship to help her navigate through this alien world of cancer treatment. The irony of making new friends comes with the risk of losing them through death, the realisation of the severity of cancer is soon recognised through reflection of previous patients’ outcomes. With a great quote stated, “You can freeze your eggs at best or write a will at worst” indicating the glimmer of hope to create a life in the future or the worst face your own mortality. The play was well written and navigated nicely through the script the moral of the story delivering its message loud and clear.
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After the interval was ‘Born/Borne’ by Alicia Forde and Directed by Channique Sterling Brown, starring Nicola Gardner as Gloria a retiring nurse from Barbados who arrived in 1948 on the HMT Empire Windrush boat, which transported Caribbean migrants to the UK, marking the beginning of the Windrush Generation. Gloria was transported to help build post-war Britain but faced racism and discrimination around finding housing and employment. Co star Lydia Hasoon played Rana a doctor from the trouble war zone in 2007 who arrives in the UK following a horrendous experience as a hospital practitioner which leaves her no choice but to rescue a newborn baby from a mother who dies in childbirth. Rana faces many of the same challenges as Gloria did decades on with prejudice and racism, the play depicts the injustice and sacrifices made by the individuals to come to the UK and the good that they do as overseas NHS workers. Great plot with a powerful message
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The next play was ‘A womb with a view’ by Maisy Whipp and Directed by Steph Lacey, starring the writer Maisy Whipp as Amy and Dan Hird as Ryan. The play explores the couple discussing if to try for a baby and the pros and cons of doing so, Amy has depression and is on sertraline and also has gynaecological problems with her ovaries and worries about the practicalities of conceiving and the elements/risks of not taking her antidepressants, whilst Ryan is optimistic and ready to start trying immediately. The script takes us through some highs and lows of the reasons to have or not to have a baby and cleverly ends with a great twist. I thoroughly enjoyed the high energy and humour in this short play and congratulate the writer for this brilliant piece.
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The final presentation of ‘You’re so Brave’ was the most powerful and heart wrenching story of all six short plays this evening which completely floored me as I didn’t expect it to resonate so much with my own journey with cancer. Written by Alex Keelan and Directed by Amy Gavin, the story takes you through the journey of Amy played by the talented Erin Shanagher of being diagnosed with stomach cancer at an early age. Helped by her oncology nurse (Rachael McGuiness) she navigates her way through the world of ill advice and unhelpful comments by others, after discovering her cancer is treatable Amy starts her journey of chemotherapy. The script is so real and authentic to how a person feels when facing such a horrid diagnosis and the horrendous side effects of chemotherapy has on a person. The writer has cleverly displayed some of the ridiculous comments made by people when facing cancer, people mean well but the impact of words can be so ill placed! “You’re so brave” when you have no choice and wished you didn’t have to be brave at all. Erin Shanagher had the audience in tears with her striking delivery as Amy and her raw emotions throughout this brilliant, scripted play – ending in a well-deserved standing ovation. I would love to see this a full play as I think Alex Keelan has something really powerful here.
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Reviewer: Katie Leicester
Reviewed: 30th April 2025