LIT Theatre Co presents-
Critical Care a Playscript by Stacey Moon-Tracy
Directed by Orla O’Connor
Composed by Derek Nisbet

“We’re not heroes or angels.
We are ordinary people trying to do our job.”

As COVID-19 sweeps across the UK, four ICU nurses find their lives changed almost overnight.

Frankie, newly qualified and full of hope, is thrown into a high-pressure world she barely recognises. Morgan, a nurse and mother, cuts short her maternity leave, risking her family’s safety to support her colleagues. Sam, a senior nurse and sole carer for her elderly mother, struggles with isolation both at work and at home. Leading them is Alex, an ICU Sister fighting to hold together her team, her family, and herself as the pressure becomes relentless.

When the COVID-19 pandemic reached the UK, the influx of critically ill patients hit intensive care units like a tsunami. Suddenly Frankie who had only worked in critical care nursing for a matter of months was now donned in PPE and responsible for multiple patients at once. Morgan ended her maternity leave early to support her team, even though there was a risk of bringing the virus home to her vulnerable family. Sam a senior nurse had to face the risk of losing her colleagues and return home to an empty house and process her experiences alone and ICU Sister, Alex had to find a way of negotiating the logistical and medical challenges that the virus posed whilst holding herself, her family and her team together. 

Developed in collaboration with nurses from across the UK between 2021 and 2023,
Critical Care brings to the stage the powerful, untold stories of those working on the frontline of the pandemic. Drawing on first-hand testimonies gathered through PhD research, the play reveals the human experience behind the headlines — not just as healthcare professionals, but as people: women, mothers, carers, colleagues and friends pushed to their limits.

Stacey Moon-Tracy, said: “I wrote Critical Care after listening to the experiences of women working as intensive care nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of my doctoral research at Coventry University. At the time, I was homeschooling my young children while balancing work and study. I was in awe of the women I met and struck by the contrast between the visibility of the crisis and the relative absence of nurses’ personal stories from public discussion. Their accounts of caring for others while navigating fear, exhaustion, trauma and responsibilities beyond the workplace stayed with me. This play is my response to those conversations. It seeks to represent my interpretation of their experiences, to lift the masks they wore, and to remind us of the human cost of care during one of the most challenging periods of our recent history.”

Orla O’Connor, director of Critical Care, said: “Directing this play feels like such a privilege, to be telling the stories of the women who worked on the front line during the Pandemic. Each one just like us but doing extortionary acts of care in ICU wards across the UK. Now is the right time to look back at this period in our lives and through this play we see what went on behind closed doors, the highs and lows.”

Critical Care begins a short Autumn tour across the Midlands this November
(before embarking on a UK tour in 2027)

Create Mansfield 6 & 7 November 26
Derby Theatre 13, November 26
Belgrade Theatre 25, November 26

Unflinching, compassionate, and deeply human, Critical Care is a moving tribute to those who endured the unimaginable — and a vital reminder of the experiences we must not forget.

Critical Care was funded by Arts Council England, with support from  New Perspectives Theatre Company, The British Association of Critical Care Nurses and Coventry University.

Lit Theatre is a working-class theatre company based in Nottingham. Telling stories that matter to local communities.