Review: Hold the Line, The Hope Theatre

In the pandemic we became quite familiar with applauding healthcare heroes such as doctors, nurses, and paramedics. Clapping for the NHS was a weekly ritual as we paid tribute to those who did lifesaving jobs that most of us couldn’t handle. However, the lowly 111 call handlers who are the first point of contact for distressed patients are rarely remembered. Hold the Line does for non-life-threatening call centre telephonists what myriad ER dramas have done for their higher profile ER colleagues. 

Written by Sam Harry Macgregor, this is a medical drama told from an angle that is not normally in the spotlight – from the perspective of a call-handler at a non-emergency NHS help desk. Macgregor is an actor/writer who himself has spent six years as an NHS 111 worker. Drawing on his own experience, he gives the audience an insider’s view of what can happens during a hellishly busy shift. Like all good medical dramas, it squeezes the most dramatic moments into a one-hour timeframe, creating a high-intensity story with lots of pressure and emotion. Calls come in from the lonely, worried, ‘almost-well’, casual sex-pests, and timewasters. Higher-ups remind workers not to get distracted, to focus on productivity and take fewer toilet breaks. But for an adviser with the human qualities of empathy, friendliness, and compassion, sticking to the script is a challenge. And when a patient dies during what seems a like a routine call due to a careless mistake, we realise that so-called non-emergency calls are much higher risk than we might have presumed. 

The two performers create a scenario that is bigger than the sum of its parts. Macgregor stars as Gary, a call handler who is too amiable for the likes of his superiors. The emotional investment he puts into his calls goes far beyond kind words. At one point he physically joins in the CPR moves he is teaching a distraught caller. At another, he gently keeps a suicidal young man on the line until an ambulance arrives. Co-star Gabriela Chanova energetically flips between multiple characters: an overbearing boss, a worried doctor, a panicking relative. She is a solid foil for Macgregor’s increasingly anxious lead. At one of the few points that waver from realism the pair dance out their frustration in a disco-lit rave sequence. 

The creative team activate our imaginations with just an office desk, a stool, and some spotlights. The black box interior of the Hope Theatre suits the confined, restricted nature of the job, with Macgregor sometimes sitting amongst the audience and quizzing them as if reaching out for support. 

Informative, sometimes funny and often shocking, this show sends out a strong message about the underfunded NHS and the inhumane conditions provided for those guiding people through their most vulnerable, panic-stricken, and suicidal moments. The precision of the writing and acting lifts it from regular medical drama to something more memorable. It is a healing tonic for anyone who has ever sought telephone medical advice, wondered what it’s like for the person at the other end, and felt that they deserve more than claps.

Written by Sam Harry Macgregor
Directed by Laura Killeen
Produced by Sam Harry Macgregor and Gabriela Chanova

Hold the Line plays at the Hope Theatre until Saturday 25 April.