Miasma

Everyone in the country should see this play!” said Professor Luke O’Neill about Colin Murphy’s play MIASMA. The Irish Times called it “an hour of tightly-tuned drama”.
Miasma is a gripping and accessible one-hour play about the fight against the cholera pandemic in 1840s–50s London, following the pioneering outsider doctor John Snow as he challenges medical orthodoxy and lays the foundations of modern epidemiology and data science.

A medical detective story as much as a piece of drama, Miasma explores good science and bad science, groupthink and dissent, and the cost of standing against accepted wisdom when lives are at stake. Told by five actors, the play combines sharp storytelling, historical insight and contemporary relevance in a format that is engaging for specialist and non-specialist audiences alike.

Alongside the performance, Miasma can be accompanied by post-show discussions, talks or workshops tailored to the host venue. These have proven particularly effective with student and young audiences, and can be adapted to reflect local medical, scientific or social history. For example, performances in Edinburgh could connect the play’s themes to the work of Thomas Latta, the Leith-based doctor who pioneered life-saving intravenous saline drips during cholera outbreaks.

Miasma is a rare opportunity to experience a theatrical event that is intellectually rigorous, emotionally compelling and deeply relevant to contemporary conversations around public health, evidence-based decision-making and trust in science.

Miasma illuminates themes of particular relevance to third-level students of medicine, science, social science and history.