Dance, physical theatre and circus review: The Hospital, Dance Base, Edinburgh

The Hospital has been touring since 2005, seemingly to great acclaim. But you have to wonder if – in these slightly more enlightened times – it still has a place.

The depiction of three hospital nurses bored out of their minds waiting for patients to arrive is a masterclass in physical theatre.

The Hospital, Dance Base (22) * * *

As a performance, there are no complaints to be made. Guri Glans, Gunhild Aubert Opdal and Ingri Enger Damon are all comic forces to be reckoned with. Their depiction of three hospital nurses bored out of their minds waiting for patients to arrive is a masterclass in physical theatre.

But perhaps the notion of a person so unhappy they cut themselves, or subject themselves to another’s physical violence, isn’t quite as funny viewed through a mental health lens. Or the fact that these three women are only really happy when they look at photographs of the male soldiers who used to come around, but have now deserted them.

If The Hospital was saying something more political about the orchestration of war by those who gain from it (this appears to be a military hospital and life without conflict clearly doesn’t work) that would be enough. But it really does appear to be playing just for laughs, and I’m not convinced there are enough of them to warrant all of the above.

Until 25 August

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