at Southwark Playhouse, Friday 4th July 2013

Under the current administration, little chunks of the NHS that Nye Bevin and Clement Atlee’s post-war Labour government created in 1948 are destroyed on a daily basis. Little chunks of the institution that has served us for sixty years (and only sixty years – it’s easy to forget it’s still a relatively young service) are being chewed up and spat out into private hands in such a way that much of the time it goes unnoticed. You only have to look at the papers to see that the NHS is demonised and degraded, with focus on the millions spent on cosmetic surgery rather than the billions spent on saving lives. In The Kindness of Strangers, Curious Directive have created a piece of theatre for five spectators which demonstrates an inherent tenderness in all of us, and how that impulse is a cornerstone of that beautiful thing, the National Health Service.

After being ushered into a somewhat old-looking ambulance and given headphones round the back of Southwark Playhouse, our vehicle begins reversing with its doors open, so that the landscape in front of us becomes the background. Continue reading “The Kindness of Strangers” →