UK educational theatre 2017: "The Drugs Don't Work"
"Educational theatre combined with an expert panel was used to engage the public about AMR through delivery of a play entitled ‘The Drugs Don't Work’. Audience knowledge and understanding of AMR were measured by pre- and post-play questionnaires. Performance of the play and discussion with the expert panel significantly improved audience knowledge and understanding of AMR, including antibiotic misuse and prescribing....
The play was written, produced and presented in collaboration with the Hobgoblin Theatre Company, a national touring theatre company specializing in the provision of original educational theatre (visit http://www.hobgoblintheatrecompany.co.uk). The script was developed with reference to the Antibiotics-e-Bug young adult educational resource documents for 15–18-year-old students following UK key stages 4 and 5 in science relating to AMR.
"The play presented a fictional scenario in which a pop music singer developed a sore throat before a live performance. In the first act, she sought, and subsequently received, a course of antibiotics as treatment. This first act illustrated the issues surrounding the unrealistic expectations and public demand for antibiotics for treatment of a respiratory infection most likely to be of viral origin. The second act investigated attitudes towards the correct use of antibiotics. After a successful performance, the character felt better and decided not to continue with the course of antibiotics. The final act explored the possible consequences of unnecessary use and poor compliance on the use of antibiotics. One year after the sore throat incident, while on a world tour, the character acquired a serious gastrointestinal infection that failed to respond to all available antibiotics.
"This raised key questions on antibiotic resistance concerning what or who was responsible. Was the outcome the direct result of the character's demand for antibiotics to treat a trivial infection and her failure to follow instructions on their use? These issues were explored with the audience through discussion with members of an expert panel between each act and following the presentation of the play. The panel comprised clinical and medical microbiologists, pharmacists, biochemical engineers and social scientists."