Info
All Art House patrons will be seated in line with current NSW Public Health guidelines. As per the latest Government legislation, face masks are no longer mandatory in the auditorium and no vacant seats are held between bookings. We are now operating at 100% capacity. Due to this we highly recommend that you continue to wear a face mask whilst in the auditorium as you may be seated directly next to someone else.
Read our COVID Safety Measures here.
The Art House Presents
An Alternative Facts production
Grace Under Pressure
by David Williams & Paul Dwyer
in collaboration with the Sydney Arts & Health Collective
Health professionals are with us when we’re born, and they’re with us when we die. They devote their lives to caring for us, but how do we care for them? Can a doctor or nurse give a patient the best possible care if he or she hasn’t slept for days? What if they are also being bullied or sexually harassed at work? What if they complain about having to work excessive hours, but are told to stop whinging and suck it up? How do they cope with the pressure?
Based on hours of in-depth interviews with doctors and nurses about their experiences of training and working in hospitals, Grace Under Pressure is a surprising, intimate, and deeply moving theatre experience that reveals these hidden stories of health professionals in their own words. Ranging from dark humour to heartbreak, the stories within Grace Under Pressure will leave no audience member unaffected. Beautifully staged and disarmingly performed, Grace Under Pressure is a truly unique theatre experience.
Grace Under Pressure was co-commissioned by Seymour Centre and The Big Anxiety, and developed with the support of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Sydney. The Big Anxiety was assisted by the Australian government through the Department of Communication and the Arts’ Catalyst—Australian Arts and Culture Fund. This tour of Grace Under Pressure has been assisted by the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government initiative.
Cast & Creatives
Writers: David Williams & Paul Dwyer
Sydney Arts & Health Collective: Dr Claire Hooker, Associate Professor Louise Nash, Dr Karen Scott, Dr Kimberley Ivory, Dr Jo River, Professor Paul Macneill and Mr James Dalton
Performers: Meg Dunn, Tanya Schneider, Sal Sharah, Emily Taylor
Director: David Williams
Dramaturg: Paul Dwyer
Lighting Designer: Nicholas Higgins
Sound Designer: Gail Priest
Set & Costume Designer: Isabel Hudson
Reviews
“Grace Under Pressure is greeted with passionate enthusiasm by its audience who have been amused, informed and moved. It is a work with a clear sense of social purpose, complexly enriched with the observations of those who are responsible for us in hospitals and whose own lives are subject to often inordinate pressures. We need to care for them. […] Grace Under Pressure should be seen widely, so that what is often just news becomes knowledge, becomes action.” Keith Gallasch, RealTime
“a very effective and affecting verbatim work exploring the dysfunctional culture of the healthcare system.” Jason Blake, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 November 2017
“A deeply moving work that is both hopeful and compelling” Arts Review
“Brutal and unflinching, yet told gently with humour, Grace Under Pressure is not easy to watch, only in so far as this is not fiction: the abuses that the healthcare workers face are happening every day in hospitals in every suburb, and will continue until changes are made” Joy Minter, The Buzz From Sydney