Guildhall Stage Manager working at NHS Nightingale Hospital London

peter reavey nightingale hospital

First-year Stage Manager Pete Reavey shares his experience of volunteering at the NHS Nightingale Hospital London.

Over the last few weeks, since the closure of Guildhall and the UK going into lockdown, I have been able to put my time to good use, working at the NHS Nightingale Hospital London, based in the ExCeL Exhibition Centre – London’s temporary hospital to combat Covid-19. Much of my experience and what qualifies me to take on this work is my volunteering with St John Ambulance.

Ordinarily, around this time, we’d normally be busy with the country’s biggest marathons and, moving toward to summer, world-class events such as Wimbledon tennis championships and British Summertime festival in Hyde Park. But all that has been put on hold and the country’s healthcare providers have taken on the task of saving lives against coronavirus.

My role within Nightingale is stepping out of my comfort zone a little and working directly for the NHS as clinical support worker. This involves working alongside critical care nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals in providing the best possible care for patients with confirmed coronavirus. Our patients are from hospitals across London and use ventilator machines to breathe. What the NHS have been able to achieve in the last month is incredible and a perfect demonstration of so many organisations and workforces joining together to serve the nation.
 
I will admit that my experiences within Nightingale so far, including intensive training in a simulated Nightingale at The O2 Arena, have been tiring, hot, and often emotional. But I can also say with confidence that aspects of my training at Guildhall have contributed and prepared me for some of this work.

Within stage management alone, there’s a surprising amount of crossover between theatre and hospital environments. We’re there to support people; to think on our feet; to adapt to dynamic and rapidly changing situations; but to also be there as a listening ear and source of comfort to those that need it.

There’s an analogy that one of my stage management lecturers uses which describes theatre something like “…we’re not doing open-heart surgery, we’re providing entertainment.” But I feel there is a stronger connection between the two environments – both have the power to build and nurture such emotions in all of us and give us the power to do good and make an impact in our world.

By working at Nightingale and through the understanding of my lecturers and tutors at Guildhall, when this is all over, I’ll be proud to say I was able to do my bit and contribute to the work our fantastic NHS is doing for all of us, hoping to bring the transferable skills I’ve learnt at Nightingale back to my studies at Guildhall when we all return to normality.

Pete is currently studying Stage Management at Guildhall as part of our BA (Hons) Production Arts programme.