In an anonymous lecture hall, a disgraced academic ‘race scientist’ gives a secret talk about a hero of his – a nazi euthanasia doctor, hanged at Nuremberg.
Confusingly for him, at the very same time, in a cancer ward in an overstretched district general hospital, a bewildered trainee nurse from Eritrea, a newly arrived Muslim Doctor, a demoralised consultant and a stressed-out ops manager are trying their best to look after him through the final stages of his illness.
As life ebbs, reality splinters, jumping in time and location between the 3rd Reich euthanasia program, a burns clinic in rural Africa, and the 1977 ‘Battle of Lewisham’ National Front march. But the most pressing reality of all is that Professor David Jeffs has a speech to finish, and time is running out.
To realise this piece, Pipeline Theatre has collaborated with an array of medical experts, academics and healthcare workers. According to one: “In some areas, the NHS is a working model of British Colonialism” Discuss. Artistic co-director and writer for Pipeline, Jon Welch, is disturbed by our capacity on both sides of binary debates to dehumanise our opponents: “Brexit, Trump, walls, immigration, it all comes down to emotion, to tribes. How easy it is to signal one’s loyalties through the 360ᴼ trumpet-cacophony of social media. But when we actually come face-to-face with the ‘other’, what happens when a human being is revealed? Particularly when, as in hospital, the stakes are so high.”
Pipeline Theatre is based in Cornwall, and creates text-based drama with high-end design. ‘Drip Drip Drip’ is the company’s sixth show. Their previous productions ‘Transports’, ’Streaming’ and ‘Spillikin’ all toured nationally garnering five and four star reviews everywhere, whilst ‘Swivelhead’ showcased in Edinburgh to similar critical acclaim. Their recent community play ‘The Angels of Fore Street’ sold out in their native Cornwall.
Drip, Drip, Drip takes place on Saturday 2 March at 19:30 at Waterside in Sale, Trafford. Tickets at watersidearts..org or 0161 912 5616.
Written and directed by Jon Welch | Produced by Pipeline Theatre | Designed by Alan and Jude Munden| Music and Sound design by Jon Welch
Cast: Titus Adam, Shereener Browne, Claudius Peters, Ben Dyson, Alan Munden
Running time: 90 mins. Age guide: 14+
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Pipeline Theatre presents
Drip, Drip, Drip
Sat 2 Mar 19:30
£12.00 | £10.00 Concessions | £8 NHS Staff
Pipeline Theatre, known for indelible characters and breathtaking production values, take you on a break-neck, darkly comic and taboo-busting journey, through an NHS phantasmagoria.
In an emergency ward in a district general hospital, a bewildered trainee nurse from Eritrea and an exhausted Ward Sister tend a dying, racist cancer patient.
Drip
Welcome to the NHS – a place where even the gallows humour is at death’s door.
Drip Drip.
As life ebbs, reality spins away, jumping between the 3rd Reich euthanasia programme, a burns clinic in rural Africa, and the 1977 ‘Battle of Lewisham’ National Front march.
Drip Drip Drip.
