★★★
‘Tending’ is a clinical diagnosis of the critical state of NHS nursing care, told entirely using the words of NHS nurses, interviewed as part of the playwriting process. A trio of onstage nurses skilfully and caringly guide us – and each other – through the ups and downs of their careers; all three of these talented performers clearly held deep respect and admiration for the stories they were sharing.
For me, this show’s impact is most keenly felt at the very end. I found that in an attempt to touch on everything that has happened to the NHS and its nurses in recent years, there was often just too much and not quite enough depth; too much love, too much death, too much to see and learn from these slices of life, that there was no space to process any of it until I was standing in the street again. It felt like a small sliver of the unending emotional and physical overwhelm that NHS nurses are constantly faced with, which left a unique impression on me.
This is not a cheerful play, nor should it be. The production doesn’t shy away from leaving its audiences with the message that despite all of the love that nurses pour into their jobs, the reality of the NHS does feel pretty hopeless. It’s not so much a cry for help as a last desperate gasp of a failing system. I felt at times as if I was also on shift, as this show has so much to be told, but never quite enough time for it all to sink in.
