Play by LIT Theatre Co about four ICU nurses whose lives are changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, directed by Orla O'Connor.
Critical Care comes to the Derby Theatre on Friday 13 November, a play by Stacey Moon-Tracy that looks at the pandemic through the eyes of the people who worked inside the ICU. It's produced by LIT Theatre Co, directed by Orla O'Connor, and features music by Derek Nisbet.
The story follows four intensive-care nurses — Frankie, Morgan, Sam and Sister Alex — whose lives are turned upside down overnight by the surge of critically ill patients and the personal risks that came with the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a small, focused cast, and the play stays with them as they deal with the pressure of the front line.
There's a fair bit of history behind the script. Moon-Tracy wrote it as part of her doctoral research at Coventry University, working on it between 2021 and 2023 while she was home-schooling her young children. She's talked about the contrast she noticed between how visible the pandemic was in the news and how little we heard the personal stories of the nurses who were actually in the rooms. To fill that gap, she developed the play in collaboration with ICU nurses across the UK, drawing on first-hand testimonies. Director Orla O'Connor has described staging it as a privilege: telling the stories of the women who worked on the front line.
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This is part of a short autumn tour across the Midlands, with dates in Mansfield and at the Belgrade Theatre, before the production heads out on a wider UK tour in 2027. The Derby show is in the Studio, 15 Theatre Walk, St Peter's Quarter, DE1 2NF. It runs from 20:00 to 21:40, tickets are £17, and there's a £15 price for under-26s.
