I seem to have been to the theatre a lot this year.
Last night it was to see Nursing Lives by Vamos Theatre.
Vamos are based in Worcester but perform nationally and internationally. Last year I went to see them perform Finding Joy. If you’d told me I’d have been enthralled in a piece of theatre, with no dialogue and about an elderly woman losing her memory, I would have thrown scorn in your face.
Vamos are a full masked theatre group, who use mime and music to convey their stories. Finding Joy had me not just in tears, but full on, dry, gulping sobs. It was hilarious too.
This week The Courtyard in Hereford, paid host to Nursing Lives. It was inspired by a cache of postcards, dance invitations and love letters found in the rubble when the Old Worcester Infirmary was demolished. Some dated back to the 1940s and were correspondence between patients and their nurses.
Just the sort of story which appeals hugely to me!
Vamos always mix humour with tragedy and flash from one to the other. Wearing full masks means the four actors can play a wide range of characters. A male actor can play an old woman, or a young actress can be a teenage boy. With very clever writing and staging, it creates great versatility.
And they never fail to make me cry.
Nursing Lives is about Flo, who nursed in the hospital during World War Two, and the ghosts of memories still lingering in the building she is fighting to save from redevelopment. 
The reason I haven’t reviewed before is Vamos can be, in some ways, a hard act to sell. Trust me, you have to experience it. It’s some of the most effective theatre and story telling I’ve ever seen on stage. Completely magical.
Vamos are touring with Nursing Lives until early June. Try to catch them if they are appearing in a theatre near you, you won’t regret it.
Love Georgia x
Here are the linky things:
http://www.vamostheatre.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/VamosTheatre
