Play set in a covid vaccination centre returns to Shropshire for 'booster' performances
A comic play about the goings on at a coronavirus vaccination centre is returning to Shropshire this week.
The play, called JABS has been on tour to the West Midlands since September but it is crossing back into the country of its creation with pop up performances in Oswestry and Rodington.
An earlier date at Oswestry’s Hermon Arts Centre had to be postponed because, you guessed it, two of the company actually caught covid. A new date has been arranged for Wednesday, June 8 at 7.30pm.
The play, written and directed by Chris Eldon Lee, is believed to be the first ever to be set in a coronavirus vaccination centre and is packed full of the representations of the type of characters who got their jabs. It is full of laughs and some really poignant moments.
The performance at Rodington, a village set between Shrewsbury and Telford, will take place on Friday, June 10, at 7.30pm.
It has been added at the request of the village hall committee and will be the last chance to see the show in central Shropshire.
It came about when entertainer Sally Tonge, of Shropshire’s veteran stand up group Three Men in a Bowtie, retrained to be a covid 19 vaccinator.
She said: “I soon realized that my vaccination pod was the smallest theatre in the world”, says Sally.
“I came across so many crazy and moving stories. There was comedy gold happening every day.”
Sally texted her experiences to Chris.
Mr Eldon Lee said: “It soon became obvious that a play simply had to be written and rehearsed as soon as possible.”
JABS has now been seen at 20 venues and Mr Eldon Lee said: " “We’ve had sell-outs from Whitchurch to Worcester and filled Shrewsbury’s Theatre Severn three times.”
“The National Vaccination Programme sent a representative to see the play at Solihull. Not knowing, we actually invited her on stage to help with an audience participation scene. Luckily, she laughed her socks off."
JABS, with a cast of three actor/musicians, is played largely for affectionate laughs with a few gentle moments of poignancy and a smattering of songs. It’s very much conceived as a piece of pub theatre and is a remarkable insight into what happens at the other end of the syringe.
Tickets for the performance at The Hermon Arts Centre, Chapel Street, Oswestry, are available from hermon-arts.org.uk
For the show at Rodington Village Hall, on Friday June 10, phone 01952 770258.
