Lifeline, Southwark Playhouse Elephant

(Photo Credit: Charlie Flint)

It’s nineteen fifty. Alexander Fleming will forever be known as the penicillin, but who is the man behind the mold? How did he discover the cure that would change history? 

It’s Edinburgh in the present day. Jess and Aaron are star crossed lovers. A junior doctor and a musician, who cannot seem to make the timings work, so they are surely better off as friends. But everything changes when Aaron re-surfaces as a critically ill patient in Jess’s hospital…

Two parallel timelines, connected by a lifeline drug.

This Scot’s folk music based show was first developed as an Edinburgh Fringe Festival musical, which was highly successful, selling out both the twenty eighteen and twenty twenty two runs. Then it underwent major changes in twenty twenty three. Following this, in twenty twenty four, the concept album was released and then it had a run Off-Broadway at Signature Theatre. The show has also made history by becoming the first ever musical to perform on the general assembly floor of the UN (twenty twenty four)

(Photo Credit: Charlie Flint)

Abbey Clarke’s designs, which makes the most of the Elephant stage space, is particularly clever in its blending of nineteen fifties and modern day medical elements- just look at the stage lighting. Wooden panels at the back adorned with vintage medicine bottles, gives the space a more layered feel whilst also harking back the older elements of the show. Meanwhile the modern colour pallet and relative scarcity creates a more clinical atmosphere. 

What’s the relevance of this? It not only enhances the seamless transitions between the storylines, but the collision of the two worlds within the show becomes in harmony with the space. 

(Photo Credit: Charlie Flint)

Robin Hiley’s lyrics show he has an acute understanding of when or not to use rhyme. An essential element of musical theatre, not only making songs more memorable and storylines easier to follow, but also reflecting a character’s state of mind within the given context and showing how far the collective/other characters agree. 

Additionally, he makes political, scientific and medical jargon simple without being simplistic and binds them with the poetic folk style, which highlights the craftsmanship of these gorgeous songs. Hiley’s purposeful and catchy lyrics in combination with the Scot’s folk music compositions, which ground the show in its context and Scottish heritage, show us why it is necessary for this show to be a musical. 

There is a theory that it is incredibly hard to find a good British book writer. Becky Hope-Palmer proves this wrong. With her pacy and sharp writing skills, she integrates the songs well with the script making it feel only natural that the characters would sing when they do. The consideration of the intersection of the timelines is outstanding, meaning that the shifts in the way time moves don’t feel garish. 

If the doctor's oath is ‘first do no harm’ then she makes a surgeon’s cut right to the heart of the story and stitches it back up with her message of hope for change if we act now.

At the core, this musical is a call to arms. Antibiotic resistance is deadly and the situation is only getting worse, with the death toll growing and growing. We need to act now to protect our lifeline drugs. 

(Photo Credit: Charlie Flint)

It is also a story of hope, a show of support for the medical workers, vets, advocates, politicians and scientists who are fighting to keep us alive. A unique quality of this production is that the lines between the artistic world and reality merge because each week of the run, a new chorus of real workers in these fields takes up the mantle. 

It is also a story of love. Fleming’s lingering grief after the loss of his best friend, which transforms that deep platonic love into action. Later mutating into a lesson in learning to let someone in after experiencing such profound pain.The heart of Aaron and Jess’s connection restarting in hardship, showing that investment into relationships, (whatever form they take) is worthwhile in enabling them to withstand the toughest tests. People just being present and showing up no matter what, through the light and the dark generating an infallible love of life and resilience in hardship. 

This is such a community piece that it would feel wrong to highlight any one performer. Instead I offer a round of applause to the entire cast and creative team for making such an impactful and vitally important show.

A wake up call, a tribute to life and an education. Artistically stunning with a highly compelling storyline and songs you’ll want to listen to over and over. Run, don’t walk, to catch this show! 

Star rating: ***** Five stars 

Age rating: Fourteen plus.

Content notes: A single gunshot (about fifty minutes into Act One during an interaction between Fleming and Amalia), loud noises, flashing lights and strobe, haze, strong language, themes of death, paediatric care, surgery, terminal illness, grief and war. 

For more information and tickets for the current run at Southwark Playhouse Elephant:https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/lifeline/