Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Low Down
Hold The Line is a comedy-drama written by Sam Macgregor, performed at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe from July 30 to August 25 in Pleasance Courtyard, Bunker Two. The story, inspired by Macgregor’s own experiences, takes place during an overnight shift in an NHS111 call centre. It follows Gary, a health adviser whose routine call quickly becomes a crisis when a patient suffers a diabetic emergency. Macgregor and Gabi Chanova perform as multiple characters, including callers, staff, and management. Directed by Laura Killeen with sound design by Johnny Phethean,. The pressure on call handlers is explored in this uneven, but ultimately effective piece.
Review
Gary works as a health adviser on the NHS 111 helpline, and Sam Macgregor’s play ruthlessly exposes the uncaring side of care. The system is operated along corporate lines and values, targets need to be met, breaks are monitored, and there is seemingly little support for the call handlers. The pressure on a buckling system is well demonstrated, with Gary enduring a particularly difficult shift, one in which a patient dies and another calls in about to jump off a railway bridge.
Performed by MacGregor, and with co-performer Gabi Chanova playing a multitude of roles, the play is often frenetic, showing the pressures faced by a constant pace. The on-call doctor and consultant always marches around the set for example, and this approach sometimes pushes the play into a stereotyped portrayal. Gary’s boss is from standard portrayals of the kind of manager who cares more about profit than people. The narrative is also interrupted by a game of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, with medical questions, and an overlong movement sequence that pushes us far away from the central core of the story, it feels like a time filling exercise. And the first caller involves a man slipping into a diabetic coma. I know from personal experience that 999 and an ambulance must be called. In being scrutinised about his incident, it becomes clear that, if there is any blame, it is likely to be heading Gary’s way.
However, when the script is less frenetic, it really shines. The sequence when Dary talks a caller down from killing themselves is beautifully written and performed, and here we see the system working, all the training and operative moving quickly to send help. Not all calls are a matter of life and death, and MacGregor uses his real-life experience of working for NHS 111 to show the tedious, the funny and the abusive calls that are received.
The play has a good heart and, ultimately, shows that, even when the system drastically needs overhauling, people still care, and are in this job to help people. They can perform miracles, and when Gary breaks protocol to talk to the suicidal boy and sing, it’s particularly moving.
