Simon Ward reviews Lifeline at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant

Fresh from a run off-Broadway, Lifeline comes to the Southwark Playhouse for the its UK premiere. In various guises it has been around for a few years – it arrives here as a slick, well-funded musical that grabs the audience from the first note. With Gold Tier sponsorship led by pharmaceutical giant GSK, it is clear that this no ordinary theatrical event. It is nothing less than an attempt to get the world to wake up to the challenge of anti-microbial resistance, in other words, the emerging superbugs that antibiotics can no longer treat. To make its case, it takes us back to the initial discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming (Alan Vicary) and his colleague and friend Merlin Pryce (Kieran Brown). The play traces Fleming’s determination to find some treatment for bacterial disease after his time spent in a Red Cross hospital during the First World War, where men were as likely to die from infections as from their wounds. The hospital was based in an old casino, and the fates of the men they treated were too often in the lap of the gambling gods.

Interwoven with scenes from Fleming’s life is a story set today, where singer Aaron (Nathan Salstone) has collapsed on stage and ended up in the hospital where his ex, Jess (Maz McGinlay), is a paediatric doctor. Cue, awkward meet-cute, abetted by the third wheel in their friendship, Julian (Robbie Scott), who had been the bassist in their fledgling band. He is now a SPAD at Westminster, grappling with the challenges of finding the money that Jess points out is desperately needed. There are no easy answers here, but the problems are brought vividly to life.

The lifeline of the title is multi-dimensional – the antibiotics developed after Fleming’s discovery have been a literal lifeline to millions offering treatments for otherwise incurable conditions; the lifeline that the medical profession as a whole offers to those in need, perhaps especially where care is offered freely, as in the NHS; the tracing of Fleming’s own life through the course of the play; and finally the lifeline thrown to Fleming by his collaborator Amalia Voureka (Kelly Glyptis) as he pieces his life back together after the death of his first wife. But the lifeline of antibiotics is under threat – it has been taken for granted for too long. Fleming himself warned of the dangers not long after he made his discovery. Eighty years later his warning is coming true.

A fascinating subject, then, and a compelling production. Although Leanne Pinder’s choreography sometimes seems rather awkward for my taste, Robin Hiley’s songs are expertly put across by the cast and a live band under the direction of Neil Metcalfe. The stand-out number for me was ‘The Rose of No Man’s Land’. Here it is sung most affectingly by Jasmine Jules Andrews as Nurse Irvine. Director Alex Howarth does a remarkable job of wrangling his actors as well as the revolving cast of medical professionals who make up part of the ensemble. The medics also get to have their say towards the end of the show. It is incredibly touching, not least as so many have come from around the world to work here. This is a powerful and important piece, with a message which resonates.

Lifeline is running at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant, Dante Place, London SE11 4RX until Saturday 2nd May