Scriptwriter and performer Shey Hargreaves takes her new show Sick on tour starting this week.
A funny, entertaining and tragic show about the impact of austerity on the National Health Service, Sick is based on Hargreaves’ real life experience as a receptionist in a busy A&E unit. The show looks at how how government funding cuts have impacted on patients, their families and friends and the staff who care for them.
Sick will tour in February and March starting this Thursday and Friday at Nottingham Arts Theatre. The tour includes two dates at London’s King’s Head Theatre on 24th and 25th March.
Amidst the organised chaos of the emergency department, with queues in the waiting room, phlegm and bodily fluids aplenty and targets to meet, Shey attempts to remain calm and imperturbable. Sick gives us a behind-the-scenes insight into the relationships, protocols, and bureaucracy of the NHS and how it works. At the same time we see glimpses of Shey’s personal life and her own coming-out story, leaving her boyfriend, meeting her wife and becoming a parent.
Shey said, ‘During my years working on an emergency ward I saw the impact of government changes in health policy and what that meant for staff, patients and the NHS. When I left I decided to write about it, bringing issues down to individual true stories that help us understand what’s happing on a bigger scale. At the same time I wanted the show to be funny and entertaining as that actually helps get the serious point over. I don’t consider I’ve done my job unless people have had a Right Good Time’.
Sick is written and performed by Shey Hargreaves and directed by Molly Naylor.
The full listings for the tour are:
Thursday 21 & Friday 22 February, 7.30pm
Nottingham Arts Theatre, George Street, Nottingham, NG1 3BE
£8/£7 0115 947 6096 www.nottingham-theatre.co.uk
Wednesday 20 March, 7.30pm
Sheffield Theatre Deli, 202 Eyre Street, Sheffield S1 4QZ
£8 www.theatredeli.co.uk www.sheyhargreaves.com
Thursday 21 March, 7.30pm
Leicester The Y, 7 East Street, Leicester, LE1 6EY
£7.75 0116 255 7066 www.leicesterymca.co.uk
Sunday 24 & Monday 25 March,
London King’s Head Theatre, 115 Upper Street, N1 1QN (Angel tube)
£15, £12 0207 226 8561 www.kingsheadtheatre.com
