What I’m Here For: A bleak backdrop to a hospital under severe pressure (Theatre Review) 4 stars

Scotland’s Vanishing Point, in a co-production with Theatre Katapult of Denmark have created a theatre piece which shows the humanity of caring alongside the stress of underfunding.

Flora is a Danish nurse standing on the roof of her hospital. She is in the midst of a shift where she has had to make tough choices, and tell stories rather than the absolute truth. Unsurprisingly, this conflict upsets her. Through flashback we return to the events that led us here, observing Flora try caring for people in a system which has taken advantage of her core values and corrupted them with the stresses, strains and tribulations of being a hospital nurse.

Scripted by Danish dramatist, Josephine Eusebius, is performed in English and Danish, with surtitles above the stage which provide translations in both languages, making it wholly accessible.  

The stage has four microphone stands situated behind a raised platform which is lit from underneath and with chairs behind. Actors arrive onto a smoke-filled stage until one walks on to the centre of the raised platform as the only character dressed in white – she is our protagonist, and guide, Flora [Laerke Shreve Engelbrecht], who performs skilfully and entirely in Danish. At times, I find myself not watching the subtitles but listening to the cadence and tone of the actors when speaking in Danish, even in the midst of a situation quite impossible to navigate, and even in a foreign language, you sympathise and understand the emotions in play.

In some ways, What I’m Here For feels very similar to Casualty: this is a hospital under severe pressure. It’s a new shift when the senior nurse manager asks for a volunteer to look after an elderly patient in room 33, and although she already has a critical patient in room 22, Flora, volunteers. Flora’s night sees her try to find a doctor to explain why the patient in room 22 cannot go home; why they have not told her the devastating news they are withholding whilst neglecting the demanding patient in room 33. 

The production explores the well-worn theme but what sets it apart is the theatricality. Artistic Director of Vanishing Point, Matthew Lenton, who gave us the excellent Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey – co-produced with Kanagawa Arts Theatre in 2025 – delivers a bleak backdrop. Rather than the white sterile atmosphere of a clinical background, it has most of the actors in black, excepting the whites of Flora; there is enough dry ice for a heavy metal concert, which acts as a physical metaphor for confusion and the lack of clarity in care given to the patients.

Englelbrecht performs on a raised glass platform which is underlit, giving an eerie sense of a place further haunted by too much scrutiny and too little support.

There’s a real sense of urgency, delivered through tone and how each character vocally shows an urgency which without too much movement heightens the anxiety, explains the emotions and underscores the tragedy of it all. The sound design is very effective, haunting with a sombre tone that does not heighten the drama but underpins its emotive context.

Vanishing Point has created yet another piece of internationally relevant, and exceptional theatre.

Having premiered in Denmark in March, and at the Tron, in Glasgow, What I’m Here For will visit Dundee Rep from 9^th  till 11^th April, before visiting the Traverse Theatre from 15^th till 18^th April. 

Each Friday performance includes BSL interpretation.

Date of Review: 1^st April 2026