one4review | On 04, Aug 2025

Hold The Line is a sharply written two-hander, an unflinching look at the emotional strain of working on the NHS 111 frontline. Performed in the brick-vaulted confines of Bunker 2 at the Pleasance, with the audience gathered tightly around, the space creates an atmosphere of intimacy and quiet intensity.

Written and performed by Sam MacGregor, the play centres on Gary, a Geordie actor who moved to London a number of years ago to pursue a stage career, but took a job with NHS 111 during the pandemic and never left. Now five years on, Gary is still a health advisor fielding an endless rotation of calls from the lonely and confused, to those with serious medical needs and others with fragile mental health.

MacGregor’s performance is compelling and layered, capturing both Gary’s sharp wit and growing emotional fatigue. A tragic call, followed by a formal enquiry, exposes how thin the line is between doing everything “by the book” and still feeling that you’ve failed. Opposite him, Gabi Chanova is excellent, playing every other role with clarity and range – the anxious callers, the clinical advisor and Gary’s line manager, more concerned with productivity and numbers than people. While the sections focusing on line management and HR were necessary in the context of the message, they did occasionally cause the play to lose a little emotional intensity and momentum.

At a time when the NHS is under relentless strain, Hold the Line feels both urgent and necessary. It exposes how frontline staff are increasingly judged by call targets and patient waiting times, factors that often seem to come at the cost of genuine care. Yet amid that pressure, the play never loses sight of the human heart behind the headset. Thoughtful, well-performed and quietly damning, it’s a vital piece of theatre that I would recommend catching.

****

Reviewed by Howard

The Pleasance Courtyard, Bunker 2

16.25 (1hr)

Until 25th August (not 18^th)