'Tiger Country' Hampstead Theatre ***

Staging productions that convey about the emergency services can be somewhat dangerous, in terms of how detailed it must be as to not offend certain people; such as doctors and medical practitioners. The Hampstead Theatre's existing play of Nina Raines’ 2011, ‘Tiger Country’ was one encapsulates the struggles of the medical profession, unfortunately their dialogue does lack an essence of flair. ‘Tiger Country’ was first performed at the same theatre in 2011, and set in a typical London NHS hospital, whose ethics in patient care leave a lot to be desired. In addition to this, we are acquainted with determined and hard-working registrar, Vashti who is on the verge of guaranteeing herself a promotion, on the other hand, her foremost disadvantage is gaining her promotion is her treatment of her co-workers; in particular junior doctor, Mark because she believes that educating him in a derogatory manner will enable him to become progressively fruitful in his career. Unfortunately, her relentless damnations towards his approach does not help his development, and his opinions of her are understandably negative, which does cause him to make a complaint about her. As well as the two of them battle against what would be the greatest solution in surgical procedures, which is quite unprofessional as they argue in front of their colleagues. Paradoxically, we witness Vashti’s softer side when the arrival of her incredibly unwell aunt, who is repeatedly neglected by Vashti’s colleagues, which sadly is the state of the NHS currently. Vashti is enormously angered by the lack of attention to her aunt, and makes a precarious decision to refer her privately so that the recovery is certain, and that medical staff are constantly checking up on her. Nevertheless, this decision does reducer probabilities of attaining her promotion, conversely, she realises that the care of the patient is paramount, and we learn that her professionalism is poignant to her. Raine's narrative is quite satisfactory, as the first act does not fully entice one into positive absorption as the scenes are too many skills to understand the premise of the play itself. Alternatively, the second act proves more compelling as we see Vashti coming to terms from an outsider's point of view on patient care with regards to her aunt. One found the performances by the company of ‘Tiger Country’ were vastly sound, and interestingly detailed. Indira Varma is brilliant as the central protagonist, Vashti; chiefly where her persona changes from an abrupt tone with her junior to one of compassion when the characters aunt arrives in the hospital where she works, and her vocal work was credible too. Raine’s directs her own play with a first-rate analysis of what happens when the NHS hospitals are overcrowded with people; in particular the Christmas period, gradually, the performance reminds me of an episode of former American drama series, ‘ER’. Lizzie Clachan’s design is clinically appropriate for the subject of the piece, and one likes the traverse format to suggest that we are in the operating room watching what happens in surgical procedures, additionally, the pressures of the doctors’ job to save people's lives. One must commend Dick Staker’s video designs and projections as they are impeccably intriguing to watch throughout the show; exclusively when we are looking into the body’s organs and skeleton, at the surgical elements. Overall, one found the experience of ‘Tiger Country’ to be entertaining one, despite the first half deficient of attractiveness.