What starts as a funny, low-stakes dental call quickly turns into something far more serious. Hold the Line opens with humour before immediately switching to a CPR call that results in the death of a patient. From there, the play focuses on the aftermath of that moment and how the staff member at the centre of it deals with the emotional fallout.

Although I have not encountered a shift like this specifically, I’ve been within earshot of very similar cases. I essentially just thought about cases that would be high stakes (clinically) and how we could make a story out of that. A lot of the dialogue is verbatim from working for this service for nearly six years, as are the people in the play. Obviously, the names, addresses and other specifics have been made up to avoid any ethical and legal discrepancies.

There was no particular lightbulb moment for creating Hold the Line. It was more a series of shifts where I started to put together some ideas. I had already written, produced and performed my debut play about dealing with Alopecia, Truly, Madly, Baldy (which debuted at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe), so I knew how to formulate and create a story.

I knew there were some very interesting and compelling stories I had covered over the years, so it was a case of creating some characters and a scenario that would be interesting to an audience. It wasn’t until a few years into the job that I realised there was real potential for a story here. I’ve seen enough medical dramas such as Doctors and Scrubs to know what would be interesting to the public, and I knew there was nothing like this in terms of NHS 111’s exposure to the public.

I thought long and hard about what stories to use, as there are a lot of complex and potentially interesting angles to look at. In the end, I decided on there being two main patient/caller storylines that I thought would be a good story to follow. We have one call handler who deals with multiple medical calls on shift, and two of them are particularly complex and form the bulk of the story we encounter.

I wrote the first scene in late 2023 and performed it in January 2024, and we got a great first bit of audience feedback from that very first scene (which ended up being the second scene in the play).

I think it’s quite empowering, telling this story. I always get a rush when I perform on stage, but there’s extra satisfaction knowing it’s something you’ve written yourself, especially when it’s about a subject you have a personal connection to. I also think the audience appreciates that, as there have been times at the Edinburgh Fringe, for example, when people were pleasantly surprised when I told them I had also written the show they had just enjoyed watching.

Each performance can be different, so how I feel at the end can change every time. Usually, I have a sense of pride in not only myself but my co-actor on stage, Gabi, who is extremely talented and has the hard job of portraying four characters flawlessly. Our director Laura has also been an integral addition to this amazing creative team.

Something that I want audiences to take away from watching Hold the Line is hope. Hope for a better and more productive NHS service. I want people to understand the humanity of the play, to care for a stranger if you have to, to listen and show understanding.

Not to get too political, but I really want the audience to take home the message of how precious the 111 service is, as well as the NHS. People who probably use private healthcare are making important decisions that affect those who use public services, a service which they themselves (the politicians) don’t use.

I feel that Hold the Line walks the line well, between conveying an important message in an emotional and funny way, but without it being too ‘in your face’ or too exposition-heavy.

Hold The Line will be at Hope Theatre from 21^st – 25^th April. Tickets are available HERE.