From hunting down a patient’s lost teeth to witnessing someone
turn down potentially life-saving treatment, scriptwriter Shey Hargeaves’
experience of working for the NHS was eye-opening to say the least. Reflecting
on her time in a hospital, Shey shares tales of resilience and humour in her
hour-long show Sick.
“It’s scary!” Shey exclaims as I ask what it has been like
leading a one-woman show for the first time. “You're totally on your own out
there. But, it's quite nice because you're in control. That means you can play
off the audience more. I think that makes for quite a warm, responsive kind of
show.”
The stories behind Sick
are authentic accounts from the four-year period Shey spent within the NHS.
Having completed a Master’s in Scriptwriting at the University of East Anglia,
Shey was looking to find work when she came across a receptionist position for
an Emergency Medical Assessment Unit in 2013.
“If I had to be in a reasonably low-paid job and pay the
bills, doing something that vaguely makes a difference to people's lives would
be nice,” Shey explains. Shey held the position at a turbulent time of
austerity for the National Health Service. One change that stood out to after
working on the ward for a year was the sudden strict monitoring of overseas
visitors using emergency healthcare.
“Obviously it's not
America and people are not turned away when they need help but there was
definitely a crackdown,” Shey recalls, remembering the morning she was told off
for not alerting staff that a patient was from abroad.
Almost overnight, it became a requirement to ask emergency
patients where they were from, which Shey was uncomfortable with. The tightened
measures meant that Shey saw one 70-year-old visitor from India resisting
treatment for a brain tumour after fearing for its expense. “In my opinion, we
shouldn't have to police our healthcare,” the scriptwriter declares. “No human
being has total control over what's going on with their health at any given
moment and, if policy in this country results in even one person being afraid
to seek treatment and dying, that's one person too many.”
It was while witnessing the immediate effect of policy
changes and spending cuts for the NHS on the desk of the unit that the idea to
share first-hand accounts through theatre came to Shey. Yet, she held back from
writing the show until hearing how the NHS was faring from an external
perspective, having left the NHS in 2017 to care for her baby.
“What drove me to write it was a 50-50 split between feeling
desperate to do something about it all and that this is what I've trained to
do. I'm not saying a theatre show is going to change the course of our health
service but I had to do something.”
Shey applied for funding from the Arts Council to produce
the show, which has been touring since autumn 2018. “I put the application in,
buggered off to Australia, didn't think I'd get it - I didn't even take a
laptop with me I was that convinced that I wouldn't get it - and then I got it!
I was like 'Oh, hell!' and madly started scribbling down stories I remembered
on bits of paper.”
On return to the UK, Shey met with fellow scriptwriter and
mentor Molly Naylor to discuss how her tales from working at the NHS could be
transferred to the stage. “She started asking me questions about how it
affected me personally and that's how that kind of story emerged.”
Although Shey was reluctant to star in the show herself, she
now accepts why Molly was keen for her to do so. “It is more powerful for it,
more honest.”
In spite of the regular grave situations on the ward, Shey
was determined for the wit and warmth of NHS staff and patients to be reflected
in the show. “Although the show sounds like- and does- have a lot of quite
heavy scenes, at the end of the day, it is entertainment,” Shey comments. “It
is fun and friendly and people have laughed a lot while watching it, which is
really important to me.
“How can we discuss such heavy stuff if we can't do so in a
way that is also entertaining and engaging?”
Shey Hargreaves brings Sick
to Theatre Deli, Sheffield at 7.30pm on Wednesday 20 March.
Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.sheyhargreaves.com/events-1/sick-at-theatre-deli?fbclid=IwAR1LEu8Y3iykMJPl6iM94wY6LpdI_8kkD6Sr3BzYf_8OMG4WaOz3P7iTSUs
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