Under The Mask

A Tamasha and Oxford Playhouse co-production. Supported by Sennheiser

– How do I live with myself if someone gets hurt because of my mistake?

– How do you live with yourself if you walk away?

In March 2020, hundreds of final year medical students finished their studies early, and started work on the frontline of the Coronavirus pandemic. This is the story of one of them, a newly qualified doctor, Jaskaran.

On her first day at work, Jaskaran is deployed to her hospital’s Covid Intensive Care Unit. Nothing prepares her for what she finds. 

Rows of intubated patients, the rhythmic hiss of ventilators, the screech of alarms indicating abnormal vital signs, the constant rolling of paralysed bodies to prevent bed sores, the pain and blisters of wearing full PPE for 12 hour shifts, and the crying relatives saying goodbye via Skype…. 

This burden was carried alone by a generation of young doctors and nurses, who couldn’t even get a hug from their parents, in case they passed the virus on. 

New writer Shaan Sahota is a junior doctor who lived this experience. She is also a member of the 2020 Tamasha Playwrights group. 

UNDER THE MASK is Shaan Sahota’s extraordinary debut, part recorded on location in hospital wards using fully immersive, 360-degree binaural sound. Audiences listen through headphones, whilst seated on stage and individually lit, giving a doctor’s perspective on the pandemic and putting you, the listener, into their shoes uncovering a remarkable story of fortitude and hope.