REVIEW: SUPER HIGH RESOLUTION by Nathan Ellis at Soho Theatre until 3 December 2022

‘The punchy dialogue stands out and leans into the gallows-humour of NHS workers on the very brink’ ★★★★

Nathan Ellis' new play, Super High Definition, is the latest addition to the sub-genre of 'NHS Plays' being put on by venues big and small. This acute and darkly comic play follows Doctor Anna, as she tries to juggle the personal and professional conflicts that being a doctor comes with. It's timely to say the least. It's a reactionary piece of theatre talking about the NHS in 2022. Will it become a time capsule?

Anna's facing a conflict. She's a good doctor. Great in fact, but when a chain of knockbacks at work combines with finally meeting someone, the handsome banker, David, Anna starts to seriously question if treating the ill is making her ill as well. Jasmine Blackborow (Anna) leads an excellent ensemble as she delivers Ellis' electric monologues, beeping along like an ECG Machine. As David in his stage debut, Lewis Shepherd brings comic relief and empathy to the story as he tries to understand Anna's emotional stagnancy. A job's just a job, right? In customer service, for him, it is. Leah Whitaker as Anna's salty sister shines in her scenes with Blackborow. The two actors share strong chemistry and really take the opportunity to command the stage and their finesse in comedy. The rest of the ensemble is supported by LJ Johnson, Hayley Carmichael and Catherine Cusack who confidently portray the collage of patients and family. Carmichael particularly stands out in a heart wrenching flicker of a woman seeking help.

Director Blanch McIntyre makes excellent use of Andrew D. Edwards' set design, composed of ever-moving hospital curtains being pulled back and forth with that hospital screech of the curtain rings. McIntyre plays with tension and reveal, as the curtains reveal and hide characters on stage. This illuminates Anna's way of life in the hospital, a series of curtains, no natural light, no names, just afflictions. Her affair with David, proves that for a doctor that knows the human body inside out, she barely knows her own.

It must be noted, that there are strong triggers here of suicide and self-harm. And sound design by Gregory Clarke makes for an affecting and aggressive experience for the audience.

In a play about a doctor's inner conflict on whether to quit or not, there is a lot of comedy being mined here. The punchy dialogue stands out the most and leans into the gallows-humour of NHS workers on the very brink of themselves. But there's hope. As one patient declares, 'God bless the NHS, eh?' Indeed. Indeed.

A gut punch of a comedy.

SUPER HIGH RESOLUTION by Nathan Ellis

Directed by Blanche McIntyre, at Soho Theatre

27 October to 3 December 2022

Box Office  020 7478 0100 / sohotheatre.com

Reviewed by Emma Godwin