There are 400,000 nurses in the NHS today. This is their story.
Tending offers a heart-breaking, hilarious and very human look at the experience of nurses working on the frontline. Based on over 70 interviews with nurses of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities, Tending immerses you in their day-to-day lives. It asks an essential question: when the system’s under pressure and lives are on the line, who takes time to care for the carers?
Tending is a love letter to our health service, created with the community who hold it up. Written by El Blackwood and directed by John Livesey.
★★★★ “One of the most timely plays of the Fringe” The Scotsman
★★★★★ “Compassionate…beautiful, and master-crafted” British Theatre Guide
El Blackwood is an actor, writer and producer. El trained as a playwright on the prestigious John Burgess Playwriting Course (2021-2022) and as an actor with Identity School of Acting (2021-2023) and the Orange Tree Theatre Young Company (2022-2023). El is also the co-founder of Offshoots Theatre, which platforms and connects emerging creatives while raising money for the Trussell Trust. In 2023, she founded El Blackwood Productions and wrote the award-winning play, Tending. Tending achieved critical and commercial success at Edinburgh Fringe 2023, and has been invited back for a month-long run at Underbelly this year. Lastly, El was selected as one of eight playwrights to be one of Brixton House Theatre’s ‘housemates’, winning a funded week-long run in October 2024.
John Livesey (he/him) is a writer, dramaturg and director. He has directed multiple shows including random (Actor’s Centre, 2020), Heather (Southwark Playhouse, 2021), and Amphibian (King’s Head Theatre, Hannah Barry Gallery; 2022). John trained on the StoneCrabs Young Directors Programme and with OUDS, the Oxford University Drama Society. For his work on ‘random’, he was selected to take part in the National Student Drama Festival.
John is a member of The North Wall ArtsLab programme and in 2023, he was invited to take part in the Independent Film Trust’s Talent Led programme and the Punchdrunk Young Talent Network. This year, he was selected by the European Theatre Convention to take part in an artist residency at the Deutsches Theater, Berlin. He is also currently working on a PhD with University College London, and is the recipient of an AHRC research scholarship.
