Pins and Needles 2024

Opened: September 19, 2024
Closing: October 26, 2024

Pins and Needles - West End History , Info & More

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Kiln Theatre

269 Kilburn High Road London NW6 7JR London

Caution: Contains truth, lies and misinformation. You decide.

Rob is putting science and scepticism to the test in his new play. For

research, he speaks to Mary, a mother trying to make the best

decisions for her family, Toby, an angry son who distrusts

institutions, and Edward Jenner, the father of modern vaccinations.

The more he listens, the more he struggles to keep his own

subjectivity off the table, which begs the question – how do you

know who to trust?

Rob Drummond, whose plays are ‘utterly unpredictable’ (The

Stage), explores the politics around vaccines, and the human stories

behind them.

__Assisted Performances:__

Audio Described: 24 October, 7.30pm

Captioned: 21 October, 7.30pm

Relaxed: 19 October, 2.30pm

Pins and Needles - - West End Cast

Richard Cant

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FEATURED REVIEWS FOR Pins and Needles

Pins and Needles review – a teasing, tricksy tale of vaccinations, from smallpox to Covid

7 / 10

While the over-explanatory Q&A format allows clarity for each story, the play is strongest when firm opinions take a backseat, allowing murkier, thornier problems to come to the fore. A simmering uncertainty remains from Drummond’s constant, smirking reminder that none of this is wholly trustworthy, but the continual tease of an unreliable narrator ultimately promises more tricksiness than it delivers. Pins and Needles is a sleek story of debate and denial, but it longs for a slightly sharper scratch.

Review: Pins and Needles (Kiln Theatre)

6 / 10

But, packing this divisive conversation into 80 minutes is a tough task. It’s not enough time. This is my main critique - it never feels like we really get to the crux of the issues at hand. If this is a play about stepping out of the echo chamber and encouraging us to challenge our strongly held beliefs, the play stops just at the point where this conversation begins. It’s rare nowadays to spend time with people (outside of X, formerly known as Twitter) who genuinely believe something different to ourselves - and spend the time listening to the reasons behind their opinions. But with Pins and Needles, the 3 characters rarely interact, and the story stops at the point where the threads of the story begin to intersect: where the most difficult conversation begins. This leaves the play feeling too predictable, and more of a (really great) introduction to the conversation, history and the science surrounding vaccination.

Pins and Needles History

Other Productions of Pins and Needles

1937	Broadway	Original Broadway Production Broadway
1978	Off-Broadway	Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway
	West End	West End

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