Wendy Wason: Hotel California

Hotel California comes with a health warning. In fact, Hotel California is a health warning.

Wendy Wason's tale of confronting the realities of the US medical system is an admirable exercise that says more about the need to conserve the NHS than it does about her as a performer. So that essentially is job done, if you take the closing section of the Scottish comedian and actor's show in isolation. Indeed, her plea to save the NHS will be the enduring memory you have from her show, but somehow she avoids leaving you feeling cheated and manipulated. She's honest, she's genuine, and she has brought us a case study in hospital hell.

In essence, the story of her husband's hospitalisation in LA isn't necessarily the most dramatic tale from start to finish. But Wason makes use of every hurdle—from jobsworth desk staff to racist doctors—to build it up. This does mean she's not left much room for comedic asides and this is flagged from the off: the introductory material on her family only scratches the surface of the potential it has.

That this is more storytelling/theatre than comedy is alluded to with a conceit over half-way through. We hear some recorded hospital conversations that Wason has eavesdropped on, and it feels genuinely as if she is distracting herself away from her own worry via the misfortune of others. If similar conceits had been introduced at other points this device might have not looked slightly askew in the mix. It adds a textured layer that has nothing to build on. Notwithstanding that, Wason holds the attention throughout.