By Grace Hatchell
I am writing this one during a late shift of my own, with a brew gone lukewarm, a packet of biscuits doing emotional support duties, and a newfound respect for anyone who keeps going while the rest of the world has its slippers on.
Some people start New Year’s Day with fireworks still ringing in their ears, a headache they’re pretending is “just tiredness”, and a solemn promise never to drink prosecco out of a plastic flute again.
Others go to work.
That is where Take Care begins.
Presented by Late Shift Theatre, Take Care follows Lilian, Richard, Cassandra, Chloe, Aidan and William as they spend New Year’s Day working in a care home for adults with learning disabilities. While families and friends elsewhere are celebrating, recovering, texting “Happy New Year” with one eye open, these workers are on shift, caring for the people who rely on them.
And isn’t that something? While the country pauses, care carries on.
The play explores awkward conversations, unexpected emergencies and moments of genuine connection, looking closely at the relationships between colleagues who form the backbone of the care industry. Not the shiny, poster-version of work. The real version. The one with pressure, humour, exhaustion, responsibility, and those strange little moments that make people hold on.
Written and directed by Edie Doherty, Take Care is rooted in real experience and inspired by producer Millie Thomas’ time working in a care home for adults with learning disabilities. The production aims to shine a light on a sector that is essential, under-recognised and under-resourced, especially at a time when demand for care continues to grow.
Now, Grace may only deliver letters, not medication rounds, rotas or emergency calm in the middle of a shift, but even she knows some jobs are held together by people who keep showing up. No brass band. No big speech. Just people doing what needs to be done because someone is depending on them.
The cast features Li Friess, Milo Gray, Eloise Greenacre, Maddi Jabir, Charles Hubbard and Charlie Warwick in an ensemble piece that celebrates community, humour and the people we don’t always notice, but absolutely depend on.
Late Shift Theatre was founded in May 2025 and is led by producer Millie Thomas, writer/director Edie Doherty and head of marketing and design Rosy Brown. The Bristol-based, student-founded company tells stories grounded in lived experience and social honesty.
Following a sold-out run of Take Care at The Alma Tavern Theatre in October 2025, and the success of In Hysterics at The Wardrobe Theatre in March 2026, the company now brings Take Care to the Edinburgh Fringe.
Previous praise for the production includes “A Bold, Beautiful, and Brilliant Play” from B24/7, while Epigram described it as finding “profound authenticity and emotional truth.”
This sounds like a Fringe show with its heart firmly in the right place. One that understands care work is not background noise. It is not invisible. It is skill, patience, humour, emotional labour and humanity, often carried by people who are asked to give far more than they are given back.
Take Care may be set on New Year’s Day, but its message feels bigger than one shift.
Because while the rest of us are counting down, counting resolutions or counting how many Quality Street are left in the tin, someone else is counting meds, checking in, calming a room, making a cup of tea, and making sure another person gets through the day.
And that, frankly, deserves more than a polite nod.
It deserves a stage.
Take Care runs at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall from 24–29 August 2026.
Venue: theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall
Dates: 24–29 August 2026
Time: 16:05
Running time: 60 minutes
Age guidance: 12+
Tickets: £12 / £9.50 concessions
Fringe box office: 0131 226 0000 / Take Care | Edinburgh Festival Fringe
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