Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Frances Ashman, Stephanie Cole, William Hope, Natalie Klamar, Hywel Morgan, Brian Protheroe, Jane Wymark, Tristram Wymark.

The patient has been seen by many consultants over the years, some with the very best of intentions, some whose intentions are perhaps dubious at best and down- right scandalous at worst and yet somehow the patient is still here and still keeping society going. The N.H.S. still carries on delivering from cradle to the grave.

Stella Feehily’s This May Hurt A Bit is a deeply biting satire on a world that has taken the N.H.S for granted and forgotten how to fight to keep it from being taken apart bit by bit, slice by slice, ward by ward. It has forgotten the fundamental idea, the spark of equality that bound state to citizen and the promise made by the Government in 1948 to look after all, not just those that can afford health care but to those who without it would die. The dichotomy between the two models on offer, the American system and the British system was bought home sharply by Ms. Feehily’s tremendous work.

Any sharp comedy, pointed satire and death defying sarcasm needs a cast of upmost quality to deliver the lines with needle like precision and with a cast that includes the superb Stephanie Cole, the unhindered wit of Brian Protheroe, the ironic inspiration of Natalie Klamar and the utterly fantastic Frances Ashman, who excelled remarkably as the under pressure Nurse Tabitha and as Dinah, the graciously funny but utterly heart-breaking sight of a woman who has let go of much of her reasoning and her grip on reality. The Playhouse audience was overwhelmed by the staggering inventiveness on offer and which was captured fully by characters that included Winston Churchill, Aneurin Bevan and a unbelievably brilliant Grim Reaper.

This May Hurt A Bit asks the very questions that all who use and revere the N.H.S. for shining ments, new ministers of state, get away with the root to branch examinations without at least examining their own humanity and just who at the end of the day is the one who is sick, the one in the bed or the one wanting to take away the Nurse looexample that it is, may find uncomfortable to probe to closely, just exactly how do Governking after them?

A fundamental right is being chipped away slowly and it is only through works such as this political and health satire by Stella Feehily that the public might still safe guard the N.H.S. for the future.

A play of towering importance, written with great knowledge, passion and darkly comic; it only hurts when you laugh.

Ian D. Hall