Despite the comic style, Nichols' plays deal with the most serious of themes. In "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg" the burden of raising a hopelessly handicapped child shatters a couple's marriage. The patients of "The National Health" suffer and die, as do the singing soldiers of "Privates on Parade". In "Poppy", a pantomime take on the Chinese opium wars, Dick Whittington's girlfriend becomes a drug addict. "Passion Play" (known as "Passion" in the United States), focuses on adultery and betrayal. In "Blue Murder", a comic satire about play censorship, a constable investigates a death.