The Language of
Kindness

Winner Idea Production, Offies 2022

An Offie-winning ensemble piece for a world in need of compassion

The Language of Kindness is a joy-filled celebration of nurses and front-line healthcare workers, which has resonated with audiences everywhere following the COVID-19 pandemic. It was first performed in 2021, in the very first week that theatres were allowed to open post-lockdown.

Based on Christie Watson’s bestselling memoir of her twenty years as a nurse, the ensemble-style show brings to life the realities, the challenges, heartbreaks and incomparable joys of working for the NHS and supporting families as they face their best and worst moments. A socially distanced production about the tactile work of nurses where the company never touch.

School groups can download our resource pack (PDF 14Mb).

Photo: Hayley Egan

actors dressed in hospital scrubs on stage

actor dressed in hospital scrubs with yellow balloon

actor dressed in hospital scrubs on stage

two performers in hospital scrubs against a red backdrop

actors dressed in hospital scrubs with balloons

performer on stage with vibrant background projections — Photo: Hayley Egan

Offies Winner 2022:
The Language of Kindness
Offie Awards – link

★★★★★
“this is complete theatre that hits every mark”
LondonTheatre

★★★★
“Wayward Productions’ superb ensemble cast needs to be seen”
Morning Star

★★★★
“The ensemble cast, by turns physical and thoughtful, is always engaging, bringing out the highs and lows of life as nurses”
The Reviews Hub

★★★★
“a remarkable piece of theatre”
West End Best Friend

★★★★
“moving tribute to the grit and skill of nurses”
The Stage

★★★★★
“a beautiful love letter to the hearts and souls who save lives on a day-to-day basis”
A Younger Theatre

“moving memorial of nursing… well performed by an ensemble of six, the show vividly juxtaposes a nurse’s brisk caring efficiency with private turmoil”
The Guardian

Creative team

Role	Name
Based on the book by	Christie Watson
Adaptation and direction	Sasha Milavic Davies and James Yeatman
Set and costume design	Zoë Hurwitz
Lighting design	Jess Bernberg
Sound design	Gareth Fry
Video design	Hayley Egan

Cast

Name
Tina Chiang
Janet Etuk
Rina Fatania
Etta Fusi
Keziah Joseph
Clive Mendus

Co-produced by Wayward Productions with Complicité, Assembly Hall Theatre Tunbridge Wells, Warwick Arts Centre in association with Shoreditch Town Hall and Guy Chapman.

Generously supported by Arts Council England, Didymus Charity, D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, Empathy Arts, Garrick Charitable Trust, Golsoncott Foundation, Leche Trust, Maria Björnson Memorial Fund, Newby Trust, Noël Coward Foundation, Royal Victoria Hall Foundation and Sylvia Waddilove Foundation.