Healthcare in the UK is harder than ever to access, with the lack of funding and resources eroding away at the NHS. People are feeling less like a patient and more like a number as they sit across from their GP, confessing their troubles to what feels like deaf ears. This shared experience is only exacerbated for black people, especially black elders and, these issues were explored in Miss Ida Tek Charge of Yuh Health, written and directed by Adaya Henry and performed at Birmingham’s Legacy Centre of Excellence.

This one woman show, performed by Tonia Daley-Campbell, begins with an empty stage, drawing the audience’s attention to the old school reggae filling the room. Ms Ida slowly walks towards the stage, distracted by her ongoing phone call as she returns home. After less than a minute, the phone call ends and Ms Ida begins monologuing about her upcoming event: an interactive talk to the locals of her community informing them about how they can take charge of their health.

 

Huggins and Mcintosh masterfully conveyed the anxiety of their characters without even stepping on stage

 

This production focuses on Ms Ida, an older Jamaican lady and retired nurse, and her efforts to give back to her community after years of working for the NHS, utilising her healthcare knowledge to help those who may be apprehensive about a trip to their local GP. In these efforts, Ms Ida has planned a talk for her neighbours where she can help inform them of ways they can improve their own health. But I have jumped ahead, as we the audience were privy to Ms Ida’s rehearsal before her performance; a speech littered with anecdotes of Ms Ida’s work both before and after her retirement.

We hear the stories of various ex-patients and how Ms Ida’s medical advice changed their lives. These patients were voiced by Tyrone Huggins and Alexia Mcintosh, who masterfully conveyed the anxiety of their characters without even stepping on stage and also delivered some lines in patois, keeping in theme with the plays focus in black Caribbean elders. It is in this flashback that Ms Ida begins to reinforce key health issues that disproportionately affect black elders, using the slogan ‘genes load the gun but lifestyle pulls the trigger’ to ensure that these key messages stick in the minds of her listeners. We then see the follow through of Ms Ida’s event, as her community begin to arrive at her talk and the audience can truly understand just how loved and valued Ms Ida is in her community, and just how necessary her work is for the health or those around her.

Ultimately, this play communicates the mistrust and doubt that many black elders feel towards their doctors and nurses, not feeling seen by their healthcare providers and so suffering at home in silence as booking a GP appointment is a battle most are not willing to face at 8am. Ms Ida Tek Charge of Yuh Health was developed using the feedback of Birmingham’s local Caribbean community, with many of them confessing that they actively avoid their healthcare providers, instead practicing home remedies, which were also discussed in the play, or even just ignoring their ailments in hopes that they will cure themselves. But that is not the case, and the data reflects this, with Ms Ida communicating that black men are four times more likely to die of prostate cancer and black women are four times more likely to die in childbirth when hospitalised compared to their white counterparts. This is a disparity that has
been prevalent in the NHS for too long and it’s productions like this that bring the necessary awareness to these issues and advise black people on how to care for their own health when being failed by healthcare services, that are the first step in seeing change and progress throughout the NHS.

 

it’s productions like this that bring the necessary awareness to these issues and advise black people on how to care for their own health

My only real fault of Ms Ida Tek Charge of Yuh Health was its funding, and its apparent lack thereof. Having only a small stage, minimal props and no apparent changes in lighting, the show lacked a certain theatrical finesse in its production, thus feeling slightly low level. But that is to be expected, being a Women and Theatre production that only had limited government funding. A message like that conveyed in this production deserves to be heard by many more than just those who were present and the Legacy Centre and, sadly, that cannot happen without money, and quite a bit of it at that.

Nonetheless, even without a bottomless budget, Women and Theatre and the Legacy Centre of Excellence still managed to put on a memorable one woman show. During the performance, a few well known reggae songs played, resonating with Jamaicans in the audience, myself included, and added to the realism of the play, who’s writer clearly understood Jamaican culture and how it manifests in the UK. Daley-Campbell’s charismatic and accurate portrayal of a Jamaican Ms Ida was able to joyfully inform the audience of the current racial disparity and discrimination present in today’s healthcare service whilst equipping black people, both young and old, with how best to protect and preserve their health. As Ms Ida said: ‘prevention is better than the cure.’

This play is definitely worth a watch and I will be sure to keep an eye out for any upcoming Women and Theatre productions.

Rating: 3/5

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