Lifeline

Becky Hope-Palmer and Robin Hiley's new musical—which was titled The Mould that Changed the World in its 2018 and 2022 runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe—probes medical questions of life and death in a pair of intertwined narratives: one about Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, the other about a modern doctor whose childhood boyfriend has cancer. The Off Broadway premiere, directed by Alex Howarth, features professional actors as well as a chorus of local scientists and healthcare workers.