Newcastle Alphabetti Theatre
Wednesday 29 April – Saturday 2 May 2026
Most people think of NHS 111 as the number you call when you are not quite sure whether that rash needs looking at, or when a temperature spikes in the small hours and you want reassurance. It is the quiet end of the healthcare spectrum, or so the assumption goes. But for the people on the other end of the line, the reality can be anything but routine. Hold the Line, the critically acclaimed two-person show from writer and performer Sam Macgregor, takes audiences into that hidden world, and it makes for gripping, uncomfortable, and often surprisingly funny theatre.
Inspired by Macgregor's own time working on the NHS 111 frontline, the play is set over the course of a single nightmare shift in a London call centre. Gary, a health adviser and something of an unlikely everyman, picks up what seems like a standard call from a panicked son whose father is slipping into a diabetic coma. From that moment, the shift spirals. Targets still have to be met. The next call is always a ring away. And Gary must somehow maintain composure as the emotional and moral weight of the job presses down on him with increasing force.
What makes Hold the Line work so well is its refusal to settle for easy sentiment. Macgregor understands the rhythms of call centre work from the inside, and the play captures with sharp precision the particular absurdity of a workplace where productivity metrics and human lives exist in constant, uncomfortable tension. The dialogue crackles with observational humour rooted in lived experience, and the comedy never feels forced or ill-judged. Instead it does what the best comedy in drama always does: it tells the truth about how people actually survive impossible situations.
Performed as a dynamic multi-role piece, the show gives both Macgregor and fellow performer Gabriela Chanova considerable range to explore. Chanova takes on multiple roles including Tara, Lee, Toni, and David, while Macgregor embodies Gary and Leigh alongside his duties as writer and co-producer. The result is a piece of theatre that feels genuinely alive on stage, shifting registers with confidence and never losing sight of the human stakes at its centre.
The show debuted at the Pleasance at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it was shortlisted for the Charlie Hartill Award and attracted an impressive clutch of four and five star reviews. The Times praised the way "shards of humour lighten the darkness," LondonTheatre1 awarded it five stars and called it "gripping and thoughtful," and One4Review described it as "quietly damning." It has since been nominated for an OffFEST (Offies) award in 2026. The Newcastle dates at Alphabetti Theatre represent the final stop on a short regional tour that has also taken in runs at Hope Theatre in London and Nottingham Arts Theatre, so the city is getting a show that has been road-tested and refined.
At its core, Hold the Line is asking a question that feels urgent right now. What does it mean to absorb the trauma of strangers, shift after shift, with no time to process or recover? What happens to the people tasked with holding a system together when the system gives them no support in return? Macgregor handles these themes without grandstanding. The politics are embedded in the detail, in the targets and the timesheets and the relentless ringing of phones, rather than delivered in speeches. It is, as The List put it, "heartfelt drama" that earns its emotional moments because it has done the work to get there.
This is the kind of show that reminds you what theatre is particularly good at: placing you in close proximity to a world you would not otherwise see, with characters who feel like real people rather than mouthpieces, and leaving you with something to think about long after the lights go up.
Cast and Creatives
Sam Harry Macgregor: Writer, Co-Producer, Gary and Leigh.
Gabriela Chanova:
Co-Producer, Tara, Lee, Toni, David.
Laura Killeen: Director.
Johnny Phethean:
Sound Designer.
Ruby Sevink-Johnson: Stage Manager.
Sidney Smith: Prop Maker.
Nalani Julien: Carpentry.
Tickets
Tickets
Hold the Line runs at Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne from Wednesday 29 April to Saturday 2 May. Tickets and further information are available at https://www.alphabettitheatre.co.uk/hold-the-line
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