Alphabetti Theatre has become the undisputed home for alternative theatre in Newcastle since its founding in 2012 by Ali Pritchard. Located in an industrial building on St James Boulevard near the Discovery Museum it still has a DIY feel about it; the cosy atmosphere inside coupled with super-friendly staff makes for a pleasant trip out. On certain nights you can ‘pay what you feel’ thereby removing financial barriers to accessing the arts – to be applauded in these straitened times.
The opening show of the autumn season has a lot to commend it. Set in an NHS hospital The Nurse’s Station (directed by Pritchard) offers a glimpse into the world of those whose job it is to look after our loved ones overnight. You might wonder how could anyone make a drama about this – surely everyone is asleep? But, as we see, there is a never-ending litany of tasks for night staff to keep on top of, not to mention dealing with the antics of wakeful patients who start wandering in the middle of the night, forgetting the time and place.
The drama focuses on the relationship between two nurses; Simon who has recently graduated and an older more experienced nurse, Leila. The former turns up for his first night shift with a cocky know-it-all attitude but underneath the bluster he is terrified and when a patient needs turning to avoid bed sores the panic really sets in – this is played out in a darkly comic scene behind hospital screens. Meanwhile, Leila takes everything in her stride – she’s been doing this for 15 years after all and it’s like water off a duck’s back. But it turns out that she feels stuck in a rut, burdened by routine and form-filling, and most likely overlooked for promotion due to institutional sexism. All this and more is revealed through the creative framework of a folk-operetta with Pritchard crafting the text with the help of Ruth Lyon who provides a lilting musical score. It’s a winning combination, all the more so because of the banality of much of the action. The use of songs serves to reveal the inner lives of the protagonists, taking us beyond the sterility and functionality of the actual nurse’s station which is recreated in some considerable detail with a set that includes monitors, a sink, patient files, sanitising gel, boxes of surgical gloves, sample bottles, and so on. As the night shift comes to an end the illicit pleasure of tea and toast sees bread, plates, cups, teabags, milk, etc., being thrown around, quite literally.
As we learn from Leila, “Nothing in nursing is normal” but nonetheless remaining human is important for the sake of the patients and for each other. Many of us have experienced front-line NHS care and this two hander ably acted by Rosie Stancliffe and Luke Maddison honours the dedication shown by so many of our NHS staff.
The text has been woven together using the real life stories of nursing staff, and the production has been supported by health professionals from Northumbria University. As part of their scheme to generate new writing Alphabetti has commissioned a number of creative responses to Nurses Station which are included in your ticket price. This is the last week of the show so make sure to catch it, especially as Pritchard is moving on. He leaves a laudable legacy.
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