It all started with a conversation Help us keep that conversation going and enjoy some great events along the way!
Rise Of The Resistance is a digital festival of creative responses to Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), on 3 – 5 June 2021.. Curated by NOSOCOMIAL, an award-winning collaboration of Healthcare Scientists and theatre makers which hosts performances, panels and events.
We have events designed for:
- Children and families.
- Those interested mainly in the science.
- Those mainly interested in the creative pieces.
- A grown up audience (due to language content i.e. swearing).
A link to the Eventbrite for all bookings is here
Healthcare Scientists are 5% of the NHS workforce in the UK, responsible for 80% of diagnoses. Rise Of The Resistance celebrates the impact of Healthcare Science. It seeks to reinforce relationships between Healthcare Scientists, patients, families and the public, believing that better communication and understanding are vital for managing future threats to global health such as AMR.
NOSOCOMIAL comprises around 25 scientists and artists. We won the 2019 CSO Partnering Patients and Citizens Award, and 2020 Antibiotic Guardian award for Public Engagement. Rise Of The Resistance is our first festival.
Events For Children and Families
SOCK THE PUPPET – aimed at families and children aged 7 and under
Fri, 4 June 2021 – 10:30 – 11:30
A story for children about Socks, Science, Superbugs and Making Friends, narrated by Stephanie Houtman
Meet Sock the Puppet. Sock is excited to go and sing for the children in Hospital with Ms Clown. Sock loves the Hospital. It is always clean and tidy.
The children love Sock’s singing. All the children hug Sock.
When Sock catches all the bugs that make the children poorly, Sock has an adventure to the cleanest, tidiest place in the whole Hospital: The Laboratory.
Can you help Sock find a way back to Ms Clown and the children?
Join us at Rise Of The Resistance for the story of Sock, narrated by Stephanie Houtman (Peppa Pig Live), directed by Saskia Marland, with a special appearance by Sock.
After you book tickets, you will receive a worksheet to make your own Sock at home, designed by artist and maker Abi Bown.
Created by the team behind Nosocomial and Remember, Remember! – playwright Nicola Baldwin, and Healthcare Scientists Vicki Heath and Dr Elaine Cloutman-Green BEM, of Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Sock The Puppet will also be available as a podcast.
With thanks to Eibhlin Jones, Laura Walsh, Amy Sutton and Tara Kearney.
REMEMBER, REMEMBER – aimed at families and children up to GCSE age
Sat, 5 June 2021 – 11:00 – 12:00
Join our time-travelling zoom Healthcare Science in a detective drama about the “True” story of the Gunpowder Plot. For ages 5+ to 105+
A Zoom storytelling science drama.
REMEMBER, REMEMBER! is a pre-recorded Zoom drama. You will receive a link to watch the online premiere.
Activity books, and script, will also be sent out so people can take part at home.
London, 2021. Healthcare Scientists Lily, Rosa, and Frank receive a mysterious message for ‘HELPE’ on one of the machines in their hospital laboratory.
London, 1605. Plague stalks the land, leading to unrest… and a plot to blow up the King and Parliament. Guy Fawkes is arrested and the race begins to track the rest of Gunpowder Plotters.
Remember, Remember tells the amazing story of how three Healthcare scientists set out to foil the Gunpowder Plot, with the help of nine year old Princess Elizabeth, a malfunctioning MALDI-TOF machine and the weird and wonderful mysteries of Microbiology, Haematology, Biochemistry, Immunology, hand-washing, and… time travel.
And they need your help.
with
LILY / SIR JASPER – Jennifer Daley
ROSA / TOWER GUARD – Becky Simon
FRANK / GUY FAWKES – Jonny Wright
PRINCESS ELIZABETH – Tara Kearney
Produced by NOSOCOMIAL
By playwright Nicola Baldwin and Dr Elaine Cloutman-Green, Lead Healthcare Scientist at GOSH. Activity Packs created with Anthony Manuel DeSouza, with input from Fionnuala Wilkins at GOSH school, and Amy Sutton of GOSH Youth Forum.
Thanks to Hannah Jones, Peter Hamilton Dyer, Abi Bown.
Originally produced for Pathology Week 2019, supported by HSEWG and The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) as an online drama for children and families in hospital isolation due to illness, revived in 2020, and made available thanks to the Society for Applied Microbiology, as the whole country went into isolation..
We hope it will provide an informative and entertaining way to learn about viruses and bacteria, and that you enjoy watching it at home.
IF I DON’T PLAY I WON’T UNDERSTAND. Plus PPI panel -an interactive drama experience for the whole family
Sat, 5 June 2021 – 14:00 – 15:00
Welcome to the “Bacterial Leisure Centre”! We are the best fitness centre for bacteria in the microbiome to train for bacterial success!
Our Leisure Centre is located in the heart of the breathtaking Microbiome Resort, set in a 2,700 square feet of the Gut. The Centre is provided with anatomy room, gym, quorum sensing zone, reproduction area, and many other 1st class facilities.
Our team of experienced trainers will coach and guide you in this adventure of becoming bacteria, and they will make sure you will have an unforgettable experience.
What do you need to do?
Sign up to a free virtual taster session on Saturday the 5th of June @2pm.
Be prepared to renounce your humanity for the duration of the taster session.
As part of our fitness activity, we will ask you to play games and move your body.
No previous fitness experience is required, but be ready for a lot of fun and games activity.
“If I don’t play I won’t understand” is an interactive digital game performance, combining transmedia storytelling and fictional reality with games and movement activities.
Inspired by choose-your-own-adventure books, audiences are invited to sign up to a virtual “Bacterial Leisure Centre” where they renounce their humanity to train to become bacterias.
After a welcoming virtual tour of the Centre, the audience can choose their own adventure by deciding which training room they want to enter. Once in the room, the audience will meet a specialized trainer that will train them to become bacterias by using games and participatory activities.
“If I don’t play I won’t understand” is designed and directed by Monika Gravagno, the AD of Facciocose Physical Theatre company.
This will be a participatory physical theatre/workshop to explore communication and expression from a microbial perspective.
Followed by a panel discussion: How To Engage An Audience With ‘Difficult’ Science
After the workshop, stay for a panel discussion and Q&A with the makers and invited guests, to explore the outer limits of public engagement; the mutual benefits of PPI to artists and scientists in framing research questions, and creating new forms of work.
For Those Interested in Talking Science Supported by Drama
SPIRALLING & How Do We Begin The Conversation?
Fri, 4 June 2021, 14:00 – 15:00
In a time when views are drastically polarised, could questions potentially bring us together and not drive us further apart?
Screening of SPIRALLING by Jimena Larraguivel, followed by a panel discussion with Dr James Hatcher, Dr Melisa Canales, Professor Brendan Gilmore, Sue Lee: on PPI, clinical trials, and how do we begin the conversation on AMR?
“The idea behind this short film emerged in response to the overwhelming amount of information available on social media, which has undoubtedly had an impact in the way I navigate motherhood and take decisions in the best interest of my children. In a time where cancel culture seems to be the norm, it’s daunting asking questions. However, in a time where views are drastically polarised, aren’t questions what could potentially bring us together and not further apart?”
INTO THE BREACH & Bugs v. Behaviour
Fri, 4 June 2021 – 16:00 – 17:00
The doctors want to be sure that I’m not using. Fair play, I get it, course, I do. But I’ve been with heroin since I was 17. It’s up here.
Screening of INTO THE BREACH by David Milner, followed by a panel discussion with Dr Jane Freeman, Angela Mwape, Ruth Thomsen and Francis Yongblah on bugs, behaviour, their impact on on AMR, and what we really mean by ‘hard to reach patients’.
“Hostel dweller COLIN reflects on his past life and uncertain future while negotiating the reality of London’s streets. Colin’s in limbo, awaiting an operation; his body must be drug-free for surgery, but addiction has been the one constant in his life.”
Adapted from a short story by David Milner.
ME AND HER & Human and Animal Impact of Infection
Sat, 5 June 2021 – 15:30 – 16:30
How do we cope with the total disruption of infection? What’s the prognosis for the things we take for granted in our lives?
Screening of ME AND HER by Rebecca Simon, followed by a panel discussion with Professor Mark Fielder, Dr Elaine Cloutman-Green and Professor Nicola Williams, on the impact on, and of, human and animal behaviour in AMR, and the need to focus on One Health.
Home is where the heart is, where we feel most like ourselves. After almost seven months living in a ten by twelve foot hospital room with her sick daughter, Zoe escapes to home. To feel like herself again and that she still exists outside of that hospital room, outside of being a mum. But home doesn’t feel like home anymore, there’s been a shift, things are not as she would have them. She feels displaced and lost.
ME AND HER is a short film exploring the experiences of parents, carers and their families whose lives are profoundly altered by long term hospital stays. When suffering through a difficult and challenging time in their life, how do parents who are carers cope with the total disruption of their lives? What’s the prognosis for their careers, relationships and sense of identity?
Created and performed by Rebecca Simon
Produced by NOSOCOMIAL
For Those Who Want Some Drama About Science
The Piece That Started It All – NOSOCOMIAL & Collaboration within Public Engagement
Fri, 4 June 2021 – 20:00 – 21:00
Verbatim drama premiere. There is nothing weird or wonderful you can imagine in human experience I haven’t seen. I’m a Researcher in Humans
When I say I’m a healthcare scientist, they ask “do you work with animals?”When I tell them I work in a hospital, they say “are you a nurse?”There is nothing weird or wonderful you can imagine in human experience I haven’t seen. I’m a Researcher in Humans.
Screening of NOSOCOMIAL followed by panel discussion on Collaboration within Public Engagement with Dr Lena Ciric, Saskia Marland and Monika Gravagno.
Jo is not well. Something strange is happening. As a scientist, she can resolve this. Unless the world is infected. Unless it’s everywhere….
Kitty, Helena and Paul work through the night. An hour can make all the difference. Part thriller, part puzzle, the science of life and death.
Join us for the online premiere of our short film.
JO – Jimena Larraguivel
HELENA – Becky Simon
KITTY – Nicola Sanderson
PAUL – Peter Clements
Healthcare Scientists are 5% of the NHS workforce, responsible for 80% of diagnoses.
Forensic pathologists are a staple of TV crime drama and Healthcare Science has dominated news headlines during months of pandemic, yet the role of Healthcare Scientists themselves remains largely unknown. You don’t see us on Holby. Science is too ‘difficult’ without explanation. Yet working in basement labs,working with patients, working with families over years, the HCS experience is varied, vital, and their personal stories are remarkable.
Nosocomial began as a collaboration between playwright Nicola Baldwin and Dr Elaine Cloutman-Green, Lead Healthcare Scientist at Great Ormond Street Hospital. In summer 2018, over 30 Healthcare Scientists from various hospitals took time out of their schedules to join writing workshops, which later grew to involve artists and actors, to tell their stories.
Performed at Camden Peoples’ Theatre and site-specific events in NHS buildings, museums, and other public spaces. Winner of 2019 CSO Partnering Patients and Citizens award, and 2020 Antibiotic Guardian award for Public Engagement, this is the online premiere of our new short film, updated for 2021.
The Nosocomial project has been made possible thanks to SfAM and HIS public engagement grants.
PANDEMIC PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS – 80,000 SUSPECTS!
Sat, 5 June 2021 – 20:00 – 21:30
Inspired by classic 1963 thriller by Val Guest (from book by Elleston Trevor) about scientists battling a smallpox outbreak
A Healthcare Scientist’s already-shaky marriage is tested to an even greater extent when he has to contend with a smallpox epidemic.
Inspired by the classic 1963 British black and white medical thriller adapted and directed by Val Guest (from the book Pillars Of Midnight by Elleston Trevor) about Healthcare Scientists battling a smallpox outbreak
For one night only, this live zoom script reading will pay homage to the iconic black and white movie experience.
Please dress appropriately, and return with us to a bygone era of Saturday night cinema-going, reimagined for the digital age, via the medium of Zoom in your own sitting room.
A unique experiment in co-creation involving a virtual company of actors, artists, scientists, researchers, and you, the audience.
It’s New Year’s eve. You get a call to go into the lab.
A patient is showing signs of a mystery illness
They just want you to run a few tests….
What could possibly go wrong?
And Now Something for the Adults
KLEBSIELLA showcase plus Q&A with creative team
Fri, 4 June 2021 – 19:00 – 20:00
Microbial shapeshifter. Compulsive stealer of DNA. Who is she? Why does she do it? In a crisis of identity Klebsiella seeks psychotherapy…
Screening of KLEBSIELLA by Peter Clements, a new performance in development, followed by a panel discussion with costume designer Pam Tait and Healthcare Scientist Dr Elaine Cloutman-Green: on performance, playfulness and the need for novel approaches to engaging with AMR.
“A portrait of Klebsiella through a psychoanalytic session.
Klebsiella is the shapeshifter of the microbial world. A compulsive stealer of DNA. Who is she? Why does she do these things? In a crisis of identity , Klebsiella seeks psychotherapy to get to the bottom of what’s bugging her.
Vivienne Westwood meets Diana Vreeland meets Bouffant clown meets Riot Grrrrrrl meets Pat Butcher.
Klebsiella and Analyst meet to determine if Klebsiella is suitable for in depth psychoanalysis. Klebsiella resolves that she’s impossible to cure. She’s determined to find the love of her life, even if it means leaving a trail of destruction behind her.”
Science Showoff’s STAND-UP FOR SCIENCE
Sat, 5 June 2021. 18:00 – 19:30
Comedy and Cabaret from the ‘best minds in science’…. A partnership with the popular Science Showoff comedy night hosted by Steve Cross.
Healthcare Scientists become comedians for one night only.
Tonight they’ll put aside their microscopes, computers, samples and equipment for one night to tell you jokes about their work.
The show will be hosted by comedy veteran Steve Cross, who has MCed hundreds of comedy shows of all kinds across the world, and who has trained these brave brainiacs to take to the stage. I say stage, they’ll be on a videolink from their own homes.
The gig will be made available to to ticket holders via a live stream from all of the performers’ houses. Ticket holders will be emailed details of the stream on the day of the show.
The show is on 5th of June and starts at 6pm prompt.
NEVER EXPLAIN take on THE RESISTANCE
Thursday 3 June 20.00 – No booking needed, live on the YouTube link below
To kick off Rise of the Resistance Festival in style, join us for a live panel show combining comedy and science
girlymicro 