THIS Might Hurt, a brand new play by BAFTA Award-winning playwright John Godber, visits Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre from Monday 14 to Saturday, November 19, as part of a UK tour, following its premiere at Theatre Royal Wakefield.

Produced by The John Godber Company and Theatre Royal Wakefield, and directed by Godber, This Might Hurt offers a hilarious and heartbreaking look at the NHS, investigating what we deserve and what we actually receive.

When tough actor Jack Skipton, played by Robert Angell, returns from filming to care for his ageing aunt, he has no idea what he’s letting himself in for. He begins an incredible odyssey through the NHS, from cancelled GP appointments to wrongly booked scans, frustrated consultants to abusive home carers who smoke on the doorstep.

Rachael Abbey and Jodie Morley also star as Val and Jo, and between them play 27 other characters including doctors, nurses, carers, radiologists and consultants, all within the NHS.

John Godber was born the son of a miner in Upton, West Yorkshire. He trained as a teacher of drama at Bretton Hall College, Wakefield. Whilst he was Head of Drama at Minsthorpe High School, the school he attended as a student, he won every major award at the National Student Drama Festival between 1981 and 1983.

John’s plays are performed across the world, and he has the distinction of being one of the most performed writers in the English language. He has won numerous awards for his plays, including a Laurence Olivier Award, seven Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards, six Edinburgh Fringe Firsts, eight Joseph Jefferson Awards, Chicago, the Yorkshire Arts Personality of the Year Award, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Yorkshire Society.

His plays include: Bouncers, Up ’n’ Under, April in Paris, Teechers, Poles Apart, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Cramp, Christmas Crackers and Crown Prince.

Shafted!, John’s look at what happens to a miner and his wife in the 30 years after the strike of 1985, played to capacity audiences at the SJT in April.

Tickets cost from £10 to £24.50, and £5 tickets for under-26s are available. To book, phone the box office on 01723 370541 or go to www.sjt.uk.com