This Might Not be It Review, Bush Theatre: Keep CAMHS and Carry On as This Might Not Be It

This Might Not Be It

• Review Date: 1 March 2024
• Venue: Bush Theatre, London W12
• Star Rating: *****
• Writer: Sophia Chetin-Leuner
• Director: Ed Madden
• Cast: Denzel Baidoo (Jay), Debra Baker (Angela) & Dolly Webb (Beth)

The show runs from 30 January 2024 – 7 March 2024

Is a broken NHS a metaphor for a broken Britain? Sophia Chetin-Leuner’s ‘This Might not Be It’ turns the spotlight on the NHS’s Child and Adult Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

Arriving in the Bush Theatre Holloway Studio I suspect many of the office workers and NHS staff in the audience will feel a sense of deja vu perhaps having left a day’s work in the office, only to enter another office. So intimate is the stage and audience setting, you feel as if you’re literally eves dropping on people at work. The setting is fascinating – whilst a typical office in many respects, you notice the cup (filthy – typical old office vibe!), bin and post it notes, what is less typical is the fact that they are fixed horizontally on the side of the rear wall defying gravity!!

The two main characters are Angela (Debra Baker) and Jay (Denzel Baidoo). Angela is the long serving (30+ years) CAMHS Office manager/line manager of 20 year old temp, Jay, who’s studying to be an Occupational Therapist (OT) and is new to working in CAMHS. Battle lines are drawn early on as Jay’s youthful enthusiasm and ideas to improve office and service efficiency jar with Angela, who’s seen it all before and has no interest in and cannot see the point of changing the status quo. The jarring leads to verbal sparring, giving the play its sparky vivacity and point of conflict. Based on the script and quality of acting you have a genuine interest in the characters and how this story will pan out.

Angela (Debra Blake) and Jay (Denzel Baidoo)

Over the course of 90 minutes we learn a lot about them. The 90 minutes is quite ironic for unrelated but unusual, co-incidental reasons, which I shall return to later.

One source of tension is the old fashioned paper filing system used in the CAMHS office. It’s difficult for Jay to find patient files as their doesn’t appear to be a logical filing system in place. Files are simply piled in boxes or on top of filing cabinets. Jay offers to introduce an on-line filing system. It seemed a perfectly reasonable suggestion but Angela doesn’t want to know. She’s often quite patronising in her attitude towards Jay, utterly dismissive of his ideas and idealism.

Over time however, for a number of reasons, her attitude begins to soften and she warms to him, treating him more respectively as a colleague who has every right to be there.  In a way that to me wasn’t a NHS specific scenario and is one I and am sure many younger workers will have experienced in other office/non-office working environments. Namely, the age old tension between youth and wisdom; sticking to custom and practice versus being open to new, modern ways of doing things.

We’re now in the realms of diversity and equality – interestingly enough on the night I saw this literally just over 2 hours before the show started the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivered an address to the nation via the famous No 10 lecturn on Downing Street. It was about extremism, diversity and getting along with one another in spite of differing views, faiths and political and religious beliefs.

In this play that diversity was well represented in terms of age and experience with Angela and Jay, plus racial origins (White and Black). The racial angle was not centre stage in the story – aside from the odd moments, for instance, when Jay was playing his hip-hop and rap music one day which wasn’t quite to Angela’s taste! Fortunately that was at a time when she wasn’t being quite so hostile too him. Otherwise I’m sure sparks would have flown!

Jay (Denzel Baidoo)

Having worked in the NHS I think the filing system issue is a microcosm of issues within the system – the old system representing NHS inertia, slowness to change and embrace modern methodology and take advantage of economies of scale and it’s economic purchasing clout nationally. We later find out the more micro level, personal reason for Angela keeping things the way they are, but whilst understandable ‘the system’ allowed that to happen unchecked and unchallenged.

We hear a number of harrowing mental health calls in the play and witness the 17 year old character Beth (Dolly Webb’s) interaction with the service as she waits to be seen in the CAMHS office. Her role is quite pivotal in the story – not only the system which let her down in its ability to provide seamless, sensible and logical continuity of care between being part of the ‘child’ part of CAMHS versus transitioning to the ‘adult’ part of the service as she approached her 18^th birthday.

Jay was cognisant of this and as a trainee OT was keen to help her and others out in any way he could. This lead to boundary related issues which, at 20, he was clearly not sufficiently versed in.

Beth (Dolly Webb)

There was a particularly harrowing call from a Michael Hayden that really heightened tensions between Angela and Jay, who felt he could handle the call, whilst Angela wanted to intervene and take over and handle in her “customised, NHS system way.” This was but one example of the tough, brutal world of CAMHS.

We see examples of week-end working – people going over and above to deliver a service, recognising the care NHS staff have for their patients and services they run.

In spite of all this seriousness there was plenty of good humour throughout the play, especially as Angela and Jay warmed a little towards one another. There were some nice surprises in terms of Angela’s background. Not only that, there’s a good deal of unexpected pathos as the principal characters open up about their private lives. Those moments were incredibly moving and game changing in terms of the relationship between them.

There is a point where Jay cites the title of the play to Angela saying, “this might not be it.” That title can be interpreted in multiple ways. Is this all there is to life (re Angela’s 35 years in the NHS)? Could she not have developed another career within or outside the NHS? Is there another way of doing things (Jay’s perspective)? Is becoming an OT the right career for Jay? Is this the right way to run CAMHS/the NHS? Is there more to life than this – working, caring responsibilities people have  both personally and professionally?

That links with another prescient line in the play when Angela tells Jay, “People over 40 never change.” That’s a valid point, although I’m sure some will disagree with it. One could argue that applies to the NHS. It’s now in its 76^th year but is it really changing, sufficiently enough, with the times? I would argue not as the model of it still dates back to the 1948 principles upon which it was founded, but I would argue that the funding model for it and service provided has not kept pace with times and until that is addressed, taking on board, as Jay might suggest, the best ideas of youth as well as from other countries. I can think of no other country that provides an NHS service in the way the UK does. That should tell us something.

This Might Not Be It is a tremendous play that.

This Might Not Be It is a fabulous, funny and thought provoking story that  raises so many fascinating, topical questions about our beloved NHS which is in need of some much needed TLC and transformation.

Jay and Angela

The play last for 90 minutes (the same length of time as a football match .. well it used to be before they started adding on so many extra minutes to matches (that no one asked for) which is massively ironic as literally the night before this I was watching Jay (Denzel Baidoo) play Arsenal and England Striker Bukayo Saka in the smash hit play ‘Dear England’ as part of National Theatre Live at the Curzon cinema. That also was a fantastic play about the development of another once failing institution that has made significant and successful changes to move with the times and work achieving long overdue success and glory days of a bygone era. I didn’t realise it was the same actor until looking at the programme after the show. In a way, that’s either a case of me not paying sufficient attention and/or more likely a credit to his superb performances in both shows that it wasn’t clear it was the same actor – admittedly one was in a suit, another in a football strip so maybe that was to be expected!

Just like Dear England ‘This Might Not Be It’ also hit the back of the net and was a sure fire winner. That much was evident for months with its run being sold out and extended  to 7 March 2024. Let’s hope it’s success with audiences means ‘this might not be it’ for this show and it returns to the stage once more.

© Tiemo Talk of The Town

© Photographs – Ellie Kurttz

Tickets – This Might Not Be It – Bush Theatre. 30 January 2024 – 7 March 2024.

Links:

1. Dear England – Dear England From Also Ran’s To World Beaters (Nearly)– 19 January 2024
2. For Black Boys, Six Black Men, Thrilling Audiences Live At The Apollo – Review 19 April 2023

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