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One of the more unusual stories involving the great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, surrounds an event at a party for his children. He was performing a trick in which he 'swallowed' a coin, which would reappear in his ear. However, the coin became stuck in his throat and nearly killed him. Surgeons attempted to remove the coin but failed. In the end the engineer used his own design skills to fashion a frame to which he was strapped, rocking upwards and downwards until the coin was finally dislodged. The imaginative and thought provoking play The Engineer's Corset, tells the story of Isambard's wife, Mary, as she waits for news of her husband's medical progress and relinquishes her corset to help save his life. Meanwhile, Mary tells the audience of her life with Brunel.