The doctor is in session

The Catholic priest has come to the private hospital to read a 14-year-old girl her last rites: she is dying from sepsis following a self-administered abortion. He has come at the request of her parents, but not the patient. The girl's doctor, Professor Ruth Wolff, does not want to cause the girl distress in her final moments by letting her know that she is dying – so she refuses the priest entry. But when part of the exchange is recorded and posted online, we see the evils of social media in the form of a modern-day witch-hunt, fuelled by anti-Semitic hate towards Ruth.

That's the plot of medical drama The Doctor, based on the 1912 play Professor Bernhardi, by the Viennese playwright Arthur Schnitzler. As modernised by Robert Icke, it was performed at the Duke of York theatre in Covent Garden for its second limited run, the first being at the Almeida in 2019. My friend and I were eager to watch it, due to its weighty psychological themes, and the presence of the brilliant Juliet Stevenson in the titular role. Throughout, she must grapple with themes of identity, privilege, mental health, sexuality, and what happens when medicine becomes your religion. Is she incapable of grief?

In the same vein, I was excited to hear that director Jamie Lloyd was reviving Lucy Prebble's 2012 play The Effect for National Theatre. I'd fallen in love with Prebble's work on the series I Hate Suzie (starring Billie Piper), the second season of which is a brutal reminder of the rather traumatic effects of prolonged grief. The Effect also features Black British actor Paapa Essiedu, following his incredible performance as Kwame in I May Destroy You (Michaela Coel). Like The Doctor, The Effect tackles issues of ethics and politics in medicine.

However, the plot of The Effect is more nuanced: Tristan (Essiedu) and Connie (Taylor Russell) meet in a double-blind clinical trial that is testing a new antidepressant. One person is given the real pill, the other is given a placebo – or are they? We see only two more characters – both 'doctors'. There's Dr Lorna James, the psychologist administering the drug and observing the effects, and Dr Toby Sealey, the trial director and creator of the drug (thus, Lorna's boss). There are romantic connections. But is the love real, or the effects of the new drug?

Ultimately, doctors are human, susceptible to emotional distress and mental ill-health like all of us are; a common humanity. See also Dr Semmelweis at the Harold Pinter Theatre, with Mark Rylance starring as the Hungarian professor who campaigned for antiseptic practices on Vienna's maternity wards.  

The work of Viennese playwright Schnitzler has often been compared to the work of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Matt Smith is soon to feature in Ibsen's Enemy of the People – a story that has parallels with the legacy of Semmelweis. It is also interesting to note parallels between the modernisation of Schnitzler's The Doctor and Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (Reading Rep, March 2023) – particularly in relation to the casting. Whilst the film adaptation I watched included an all-white, heteronormative cast, notably barring the servant who was a Black woman, the play had Sri Lankan Natalie Perera (Bazodee) portraying Thea, one of the female leads, and Jessica Temple (Patriots) in the role of Eilert as 'Isla'. In The Doctor, Schnitzler's Bernhardi – a Viennese man in the 1900s – becomes Wolff, a British woman in the 21st century. Aside from Wolff, the identities of all characters – racial or sexual – are directly dissonant to the actors playing them in at least one way. For example, the priest is played by a White actor, but the character refers to his Black identity.

This casting concept is pivotal in all these plays. The audience is encouraged to re-consider the characters and events that are unfolding, as they learn more about who the characters are and what they represent – in particular, that mental ill-health is not partial to a single race, sex, or profession.  

- The Effect is showing at the Lyttelton Theatre, and Dr Semmelweis at the Harold Pinter Theatre, until 7 October 2023.

Reviewed by Chrissie Fitch BSc (Hons) MSc PgCert; Administrator in Educational Testing (Hogrefe Ltd), Visiting Research Associate (Nutrition and Behaviour Unit), Associate Editor (Culture). E: [email protected]. T: @fitchychris_psych