Review: Lifeline, Southwark Playhouse

During COVID-19 we learned that health professionals are superheroes. In Lifeline they get to reveal their other talents. Each performance features a chorus of doctors, nurses and scientists performing with the professional cast, in a show that explores the profound importance of infection control. 

The central theme is the danger of antimicrobial resistance, how it costs millions of lives, and what needs to be done to stop it. The strong message is told via two love stories from different time periods. One focuses on the inventor of penicillin, Sir Alexander Fleming (Alan Vicary), as he nervously woos his second wife, the gifted scientist and Greek resistance fighter Amalia Koutsouri-Voureka (Kelly Glyptis). The second is set in the present day, when Aaron (Nathan Salstone), a young musician, falls ill at a gig and ends up in hospital being looked after by his doctor ex, Jess (Maz McGinlay).

Through the intertwining and time-shifting love stories, we learn why the Nobel-prize-winning celebrity scientist Fleming was so determined to fight bacteria: he lost a much-loved childhood friend to an infection. He later warned the world about the catastrophic dangers of improper antibiotic use. Fast forward to the modern day, we see Aaron fighting for his life as antibiotics fail to kill the bugs that have overwhelmed his body. 

Lifeline is packed full of music at every turn, with styles including folk, folk-rock, and opera, which are performed by a lively six-piece band. Electric and acoustic guitars are enhanced with a haunting fiddle and glorious bagpipes. The folksiness is put to best use when portraying Fleming’s time as a young soldier in the London Scottish Volunteers. 

In a devastating penultimate showstopper, government adviser Julian (Robbie Scott) nails the issue: the overuse of antibiotics, often for commercial rather than medical benefits, has devastating consequences, the solutions to which are as much political as scientific. 

Vicary is perfect as the shy workaholic Fleming, oblivious to the obvious charms of his future wife. Glyptis as Amalia brings playfulness, and her beautiful operatic voice adds much-needed warmth and passion to their slow-to-develop romance. Salstone skilfully navigates two lead characters from different time periods who collide at a crucial point. Kieran Brown delights as Fleming’s colleague and loyal confidant Merlin Pryce. 

Leanne Pinder’s choreography is at times breath-taking, using every inch of the space, with exuberant Ceilidh dancing spilling off the stage into the aisles. 

Lifeline undoubtedly succeeds in alerting audiences to the terrifying prospect of antimicrobial resistance. There is, however, no clear indication of what we can do about it. At times the script seems a little preachy. One song has patients demanding quick fixes for minor ailments, suggesting their greed is driving antibiotic overuse. The role of pharmaceutical companies is not explored, and the routine, non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animal agriculture just gets a brief mention. 

It is a musical about a crucial life-and-death issue, and it ought to be seen far and wide. It deals with complex material brilliantly, injecting love and vitality into material that could so easily be dry and academic. Lifeline combines science, storytelling, and song to create an epic experience that will appeal to all of us touched by the prospect of illness and death. If you like theatre with a strong message, this is a must-see.

Book by Becky Hope-Palmer
Music and lyrics by Robin Hiley
Directed by Alex Howarth
Produced by Robin Hiley, Jessica Conway

Lifeline plays at Southwark Playhouse Elephant until Saturday 2 May