Review: Tending, Riverside studios

So often in the headlines, yet so rarely truly listened to, the NHS stands as the backbone of British society, its staff bearing the weight of a nation’s health on overworked and underpaid shoulders. Tending by El Blackwood is a love letter to the community of over 400,000 nurses who have dedicated their lives to caring for others. This 100% verbatim performance, drawn from over seventy interviews with NHS nurses, never loses the power of their words, evoking laughter, tears, and astonishment throughout.

We are greeted by three familiar pale blue plastic chairs, lined up beneath the cold glow of a long vertical blind. Above them, the unmistakable buzz of a luminescent strip light hums. Harsh, clinical, inescapable, it hangs heavy across the performance, casting everything in that sterile, institutional wash we know too well.

This bare, stripped-back set is evocative in its simplicity, brought to life the way hospitals so often are: through the people inside them. In this case, by three performers, Blackwood, Anjelica Serra, and Ben Lynn, who step into their roles with integrity, vulnerability, and a fierce commitment to honouring the stories at the heart of the piece. That hunger to do justice is palpable in every moment.

There’s something quietly disarming about the way Blackwood’s narrative unfolds. The performers don’t dramatise or embellish; they speak plainly, almost clinically, like they’re trying not to scare you. Medical terms are dropped into the conversation without warning, cushioning some of the more brutal realities with sterile precision. It’s reminiscent of those surreal moments in hospitals when you’re being told something life-altering in words you barely understand, yet the warmth in the voice somehow making it bearable.

Under John Livesey’s direction, this delicate balance is handled with striking sensitivity. The movement work is purposeful while never decorative. It supports the text like breath supports speech, always present but never drawing focus. There’s a stillness at the heart of it all that makes you lean in, listen harder, feel more.

Empathy pulses through the show’s heart. It’s not just a theme; it’s a constant presence, embodied in the nurses whose stories we follow. Their capacity to care feels almost superhuman. As the performance unfolds, lines like “our best is not good enough” land with a quiet force, stirring something deeper than sympathy: frustration, helplessness, admiration.

We’re offered only a glimpse into what these nurses carry each day, from children’s wards to palliative care, through a pandemic that stretched every limit. It’s a dose of reality that lingers long after the lights fade. And it asks us, plainly: What does real support look like? Because applause is not enough.

This performance brings a piercing clarity to the lived realities of nurses, the emotional labour, the exhaustion, the impossible expectations. But it doesn’t stop at empathy. It makes its politics known, loud and clear. One line cuts through everything like a siren: “People aren’t dying because nurses are striking. Nurses are striking because people are dying.”

It’s a truth that hits like a gut punch, and one I don’t think I’ll ever forget. This isn’t just theatre; it’s a call to pay attention. To care. To act. I can’t recommend this performance enough. Everyone needs to witness it.

Written by: El Blackwood
Directed by: John Livesey
Sound design by: Sarah Spencer
Lighting Design by: Ros Chase
Produced by: Anther Theatre

Tending plays at Riverside Studios until Sunday 4 May.