First performed to sell-out audiences in London Bridge’s Old Operating Theatre in March 2015. Produced by The Dream Team theatre company and directed by Guy Watson.
Synopsis
London, 1824. Determined to keep her penniless family out of the workhouse, Margaret is forced to begin working as a nurse at the Old St Thomas’ Hospital. Long before the formation of the NHS and the use of anaesthesia, the poverty-stricken patients have little say over their brutal and excruciatingly painful treatments.
Horrified by the screams echoing across the hospital, Margaret dons a doctor’s coat, disguises herself as a male medical student, and creeps inside the operating theatre. Discovering a room full of bloodthirsty students and showman Dr Edwards unnecessarily performing one of his famous amputations, she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands.
Performed in the oldest operating theatre in Europe, the play follows Margaret on her journey to become one of London’s most groundbreaking surgeons.
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Visit the The Dream Team’s blog for a post in which I discuss my writing process and The Academy of Melancholy.