Hospitals are battlefields

“Mind must be the firmer, heart the more fierce, courage the greater, as our strength diminishes”

These words, spoken 1000 years ago by a dying Saxon warrior still carry meaning for the orderly, Peter – an eccentric little man who is harassed in his minimum wage job and seeks solace in his historic recreation society and the heroic world of the Anglo-Saxon poem The Battle of Maldon.

Set on what may be his last day at the hospital, The Orderly weaves together the stories of Peter’s mundane world with that of a heroic last stand at The Battle of Maldon, a ferocious battle between Saxon defenders and Viking invaders.

The Orderly blends laughter with sadness in an underdog story of one of life’s foot soldiers, whose days in this world are coming to an end.

The Orderly launches The Rebel Alliance in 2006. It went on to tour Aotearoa extensively, was adapted for radio by RNZ and even had a season in Korea!