Theatre Review - Pins and Needles
Richard Cant as Edward Jenner [Mark Senior]
PINS and Needles is presented as verbatim drama. A writer, Rob Drummond (Gavi Singh Chera), walks on stage to tell us about his research into the politics surrounding vaccinations. He introduces three interviewees, all with very different views.
Over the course of 80 minutes, we meet Mary (Vivienne Acheampong), a mother worried about her children’s health; Robert (Brian Vernel), an angry anti-vaxxer who believes the Covid conspiracy theories; and Edward Jenner (Richard Cant), the English physician who invented the smallpox vaccine in 1796.
Singh Chera is an actor masquerading as a playwright who claims to be neutral about vaccinations, but then reveals his own personal experiences which have inevitably influenced his choices.
Pins and Needles explores changing attitudes, the fallibility of government and the tarnished reputation of the pharmaceutical companies, as well as the ethics involved in testing a new vaccine.
The play asks who should we trust?
There’s some fascinating stuff to unpack, and it’s well-acted. Amit Sharma’s assured, but static, staging seems unavoidable given the format.
Drummond’s meta-theatrical devices, in particular the use of Jenner as a character within a piece that professes to be verbatim, and playful asides, undermine the seriousness of the themes. Maybe that’s his point, but the play is also slight. More “human stories” would have helped the drama to hit home – Mary and Robert feel undernourished as characters.
As an attempt to debunk the myths surrounding vaccinations, truth from fiction, Drummond instructs and entertains with a broad brush. This approach seems best suited to an educational context and I can’t help feeling that Pins and Needles would have its biggest impact in schools.
Until October 26
Originally published by Camden New Journal