Having now seen Nursing Lives three times and Finding Joy twice, it’s fair to say that I’m a big fan of Vamos Theatre and would urge everyone to catch one of their inimitable performances.

Nursing Lives, which will end its tour with performances at Worcester’s Swan Theatre on Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6, has lost absolutely none of its power in the years since I first saw it – without a word being spoken (a few are sung, though ... by pig puppets!) the extraordinarily talented cast tell a story that embraces nostalgia and friendship, love and loss, tragedy and comedy.

When Florence sneaks back into the hospital where she did her nursing training to take one last look before the building is demolished, she finds herself ambushed by memories of her younger self, and we are treated to vignettes of her training under a formidable matron, making friends with her fellow nurses and meeting her sweetheart only to wave him off to war almost before the ink is dry in the register.

The fear and reality of losing loved ones at the front is heartbreakingly portrayed in the deftest of scenes, and though the black-edged letter is not for her, tragedy still finds a way to Florence’s door when an impossible choice has unforeseen consequences.

With no words to tell the story, everything is revealed through gesture – the slightest movement of the head proving more eloquent than dozens of words – and so skilled are the actors here that you’d honestly swear that emotions were written on the faces of the masks, that you saw a smile lift the lips here or an eyebrow raised in surprise there.

Vamos’s impressive creativity, invention and skill work together to deliver a piece of unforgettable drama that captures and retains an audience’s attention, drawing them in to the experience in a way that is particularly powerful. Masks are often employed to hide emotional truth – in Nursing Lives, they are used to expose emotional truths and tell a quietly dramatic story in unforgettable and unmissable style.

To book for Nursing Lives at Worcester’s Swan Theatre on June 5 and 6, visit worcesterlive.co.uk or call the box office on 01905 611427.