EDINBURGH 2024: Review: TENDING, Underbelly Cowgate

They say when things go wrong, you should look for the carers. Those who are always there to help. Those who remain calm in all situations. Those who show up for others before they show up for themselves. While they can be found in many different spaces, they exist in abundance in the NHS. 

Tending is the story of just some of those carers - of some of the 400,000 nurses who make up the backbone - or the heart - of the NHS. A verbatim piece, Tending is a heartfelt, emotive production that sheds light on the stories we rarely hear. After all, while we're all aware of the strain both the NHS and those who keep it afloat are under, rarely do we take the time to actually listen to what they have to say. 

Tending is an attempt at rectifying this - with three actors giving voice to over 70 interviewees, nurses past and present. During the 60-minute run time, they tell us about the highs and lows of nursing. The reason they pursued this career, to begin with, and the reason they stayed. The ways they keep themselves awake on a night shift, and the patients whose faces they could draw from memory years after caring for them. The paralyzing fear of the COVID-19 pandemic and the necessity of the strikes. 

However, in covering so many bases at once, it sometimes feels as though we're only skimming the surface of some of the deeper stories, which can leave the production feeling a little one-note. Based on the depth of research conducted, it would have been interesting to see a deeper dive into a specific topic instead of trying to encapsulate the complexities of a crumbling system into a relatively short runtime. 

That said, there's a genuine tenderness to how Tending has been constructed. It's clear that the creatives behind the production care deeply about the stories they are sharing, and this sincerity has bled into the script (El Blackwood) and the performances, too. 

Well-paced and skillfully performed, Tending is a compelling and crucial piece of theatre. It's the kind of work that sparks conversations, making it part of the beating heart of what makes the Fringe great. 

Tending is at Underbelly Cowgate as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival until August 25.

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