One was inspired by a TV programme about nurses saving babies in a war zone. One became a nurse because he realised that nurses had far more connection with patients and their families than doctors had time for. A third thought she’d be a PE teacher and changed her mind. Her Mum (a nurse) warned her off nursing. She did it anyway.
They all had one thing in common; they cared.
El Blackwood’s Tending asks the question ignored by managers, politicians, and a large swathe of the public; who cares for the carers?
In this powerful piece of verbatim theatre, three outstanding actors tell the stories of over 70 nurses. No one had ever asked them for those stories before.
The play begins with the three nurses (the characters, unnamed because each one conveys the accounts of many nurses, are beautifully played by Mara Allen, Ben Lynn and Blackwood herself) talking about why they became nurses in the first place. They then describe their working days, starting with the shift handover (you can tell what kind of a day it’s been, they say, by the outgoing team’s body language) and moving on to triaging in A & E, safety checks in the neonatal unit, and lots and lots of personal caregiving – washing, toileting, feeding, dressing. And the smells!
‘Poo, wee, sick, blood…’
They’re busy, very busy, but they still have time to laugh and joke. They have a song and dance every morning before work, they banter over the bedmaking, they vogue with the bedpans. It’s not easy, they rarely get time to eat, they’re permanently dehydrated and exhausted. The paperwork drives them crazy, they all admit to grabbing the odd nap in a cupboard, but every once in a while there’s a special moment; taking a patient up to the helipad to see the views, stroking a dementia sufferer to sleep, seeing a baby become well enough to come off a ventilator,
‘These moments are rare, the NHS is so pressured.’
‘You see the guts of life a bit.’
It may not fit the romantic image of nursing some of them had before they started, but it’s OK, just. The teamwork, the job satisfaction, the gratitude of patients, all help them through the tough times, of which they are many. Nurses are on the front line, they see terrible things happen to people like you and me. They can’t take time out, can’t ‘recalibrate’; they might watch someone die then go straight on to the drunks in A&E on a Saturday night.
They do it because they care,
‘Nursing when it’s good is about love.’
Then along comes Covid, and from then on there’s no more fun, and almost no job satisfaction, Instead there’s constant, unremitting horror,
‘Screaming, crying, whispering, alarms…..watching so many people die and there was nothing we could do.’
One of the greatest strengths of Tending, and of its superb cast, is that it forces us to understand that nurses are first and foremost people just like us (only better.) They don’t do their jobs in a vacuum, they have lives. When Covid hit, their lives were hit too. They had all the extra domestic stresses that many of us had, but they carried on. They saw things none of us would ever want to see. Their exhaustion became unbearable, but they bore it,
‘I had no choice.’
But it wasn’t only the exhaustion, the fact that their faces were red and raw from wearing PPE (when they could get it), their hair breaking from stress, their eyes sunken from dehydration and lack of sleep. It was the knowledge that the NHS itself was totally overwhelmed. They had to try to cope. Access to a psychologist was only provided after a nurse had killed herself on duty.
Politicians visited but were prevented from speaking with nurses. They felt ignored by managers. If someone had to go off sick, they were consumed with guilt at leaving their team a nurse down. It was hell.
‘This is the new normal. It’s not going to change.’
‘We cannot provide the care we’ve been trained to give.’
Tending also touches on the strike action taken by nurses and junior doctors. In general the public backed it, but if you ever questioned whether their industrial action ‘should have been allowed’ this play will surely change your mind.
‘Nurses and nursing support workers across Scotland are under paid, under-staffed and many are at breaking point. The current service pressures and staff shortages have resulted in unsafe conditions being normalised.’
Colin Poolman, RCN Scotland Director
Nurses who have seen Tending say that it’s the first time they’ve seen an accurate picture of the reality of their lives. But they know the truth already; the rest of us urgently need to see this stunning, shocking production. It should be performed in the Houses of Parliament. It should be on our TV screens. We are privileged to have it here in Edinburgh. Please go and see it.
Tending is a Larynx production, directed by John Livesey and produced by Eleanor Birdsall-Smith. It is at Venue 61, Underbelly (Belly Button), Cowgate at 14.15 every day until 25th August. Please note that there is no show on Monday 12th August. Tickets here.
Tending is considered suitable for children aged 12+.
