At a glance
Synopsis
In a hospital waiting room, two strangers sit with their phones and their fears. Alex, a passionate climate change protester, waits for news of Gemma, her injured partner. Martha, stoic and sharp-tongued, waits for her son Ian, a police officer caught up in the same protest. As awkward conversation turns into fierce disagreement, the two women discover that the people they love were injured on opposite sides of the very same conflict.
Funny, thought-provoking and deeply moving, While We Wait explores the power and limitations of language, the divisions between generations, and what happens when conviction collides with compassion. At its heart, it is a play about finding our shared humanity in a world that too often demands we choose sides.
At the centre of the play are two richly drawn and contrasting female roles, offering both performers humour, emotional range and a relationship that deepens as the play unfolds. Ian and Gemma provide two rewarding supporting roles, while the brief role of the doctor may be doubled by either of those performers if required. Set within the contained world of a hospital waiting room, the production keeps the focus firmly on the characters, their conflicting beliefs and the human connections that gradually emerge between them.
