Another Day of Fun (La La Land) - The Prion King | Addenbrooke’s Hospital Pantomime 2018

THE ADDENBROOKE’S PANTOMIME

Each year, clinical medical students (Years 4-6) at Cambridge University put on a pantomime to raise money for charity. In 2018, we performed “The Prion King” and raised over £10,000 for the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust and Medicins Sans Frontieres.

It follows the story of Simbastatin (a 4th year medical student) and his friends as they navigate their first experiences of life on the wards. The evil villain Scarcoma (a paediatric surgeon-turned forensic pathologist) and his team of feral politicians plot to overthrow the dean of the Cambridge clinical school by unleashing the deadly Prion Disease.

Each year, panto is written, directed, arranged, choreographed and performed by medical students. It’s always an incredible experience for those of us involved in it, and a great way of making friends across year groups. This year, for the first time, we’re putting the musical performances up on YouTube - enjoy!

SONG #1 - ANOTHER DAY OF FUN

The opening number shows the new 4th year clinical students arriving in Savannahbrooke’s Hospital and trying to navigate their new environment. They’ve spent the past 3 years of preclinical medicine practically living in the library, but are about to meet real patients for the first time. Filled with blind optimism, they burst into La La Land-inspired song. It’s another day of fun.

LYRICS:

(Explanations in footnotes)

We’re back for our first day

We’re going to start clinical school

Patients better pray

We are so excited, but we still don’t have a clue

No one has told us what to do

We wish we knew [1]

Summer’s at an end

These CPC’s [2] are going to

Drive me around the bend,

And my placement plan [3]

Just seems so random and bizarre,

I think I’m gonna need a car

King’s Lynn [4] is way too far!

Hope my GP’s somewhere near [5]

Is he even in our year?

Not sure what I’m doing here

We’ll have to see

What the hell’s the GMC? [6]

Are they friend or foe to me?

Where do I find my ward?

Do I have to go in?!

In hospital

Always have to run

So we find everyone with signs [7]

Why’d I live in town? [8]

(It’s another day of fun)

I’m always late and now

(It’s another day of fun)

This lanyard’s going brown

And it’s another day of fun!

Climb Hills Road

We reach Savannahbrooke’s [9]

We’ll find everyone with signs

But can it fit us all? [10]

(It’s another day of fun)

Do-we have to do on calls?

(It’s another day of fun)

Can we still drink at all?

Oh it’s another day of fun!

LYRICS EXPLANATIONS:

[1] General comment about how clinical school (Years 4-6) is a totally different experience to undergrad (Years 1-3) and so everyone’s unsure as to what’s going on

[2] CPC = Clinical Pathological Conference. Most of our 2-hour clinical pathology lectures take this format, with a panel of experts from various specialities related to the topic (eg: radiology, histopathology, respiratory etc)

[3] Reference to ‘placements’ where we get sent off for 6 weeks at a time to various hospitals around the East Anglia region.

[4] Kings Lynn is famously the furthest away (1h30m drive from Cambridge), and so it’s fashionable to complain about it.

[5] We also get sent off on GP placements, some of which can be up to 2h30m drive away from Cambridge. If you’re unlucky and get put somewhere far away and don’t have a car, you might have to travel for up to 4 hours on public transport to get there…

[6] GMC = General Medical Council.

[7] “Signs” refers to physical attributes that some patients might have when you examine them. For example, a “distended abdomen” is a

[8] Addenbrooke’s hospital is around 2 miles from Cambridge town centre. Students living in town (as opposed to further out) have a ~20 minute cycle to get there each morning.

[9] “Savannahbrooke’s” is where our pantomime is set. It’s a magical world where all the doctors and patients are animas, hence all the face paint.

[10] One of the running gags in this year’s pantomime was the increased intake of clinical students, prompting jokes about capacity issues.

CREDITS:

Arranged and conducted by Benedict Morris.

Lyrics by Alex Butcher and Sushmita Ramanujam.

Choreography by Rebecca Green.

PSI donate 10% of my income to charity every year. Would you like to join me? Learn more about the 10% Pledge