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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Kate Wyver

Pins and Needles review – a teasing, tricksy tale of vaccinations, from smallpox to Covid

Gavi Singh Chera as Rob and Richard Cant as Edward Jenner in Pins and Needles.
A matter of trust … Gavi Singh Chera as Rob and Richard Cant as Edward Jenner in Pins and Needles. Photograph: Mark Senior

Rob Drummond tells us to trust him. Except the man on stage isn’t Rob, the interviews that he promises are verbatim have been heavily edited, and at least one of them is made up entirely. So how can we trust anything anyone says?

Trust and doubt lurk on the shoulders of this ultra-self-aware investigation into attitudes towards vaccinations. In previous, daring shows, Drummond has invited an audience member to shoot a bullet for him to catch with his teeth, and dragged individuals into dates played out for the rest of the room. Pins and Needles takes a step back from the intensity of those interactions and is a little flatter for it, levelling its gaze instead at a more universal question of risk.

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