Brandy Bex is a cabaret star ft. filthy Florence Nightingale in six-inch heels. In their debut hour, audience members are admitted to ward one for a real wild night. Even wilder than Brighton A&E on a Friday evening. From dating doctors, to tackling patients a little too addicted to their call bell, Progress in Work shares the trials and tribulations of a (real) NHS nurse, with an extra injection of glamour. Bex shares how to take down mardy matrons, master the art of feeding the malnourished and making the best of being soaked in your wee.
There’s a sense with this show that Bex is trying to squeeze in more than just a couple of their ample talents. There’s drag, stand-up, singing and poetry – definitely bang for your buck. It’s giving Pamela Anderson meets Pam Ayres, and this reviewer is kinda into it.
The songs in this show are on-point – who wouldn’t want a Sheeran-esque anthem on poo composition? The story that sits alongside it is particularly amusing. These anecdotes from beyond A&E, in the darkest corners of the hospital, are at the core of this show. It would be fantastic to hear more personal stories charting Bex’s narrative journey as a nurse. Taking the audience on a ride with them – from wide-eyed girl on the ward, to a catheter-carrying queen.
Bex is the consummate professional – their natural home is on a stage. For this showing, there is a strong presence of healthcare staff, and they know the world Bex is building for us all too well.
Progress in Work is a filthy romp through the delights and dangers of life as an NHS ward nurse. Covered in fluids, and only slightly unhealthily obsessed with your faeces, Brandy Bex is a real NHS hero, a siren with a sample pot and a most charismatic host for your time on ward one. With a little more treatment, this show is onto a winner.
Reviewed on 14 May 2026. Runs to 30 May.
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