Brilliant tale of a ‘crucifixion’ in the digital age
Juliet Stevenson gives a towering performance as the professor at the centre of Robert Icke’s reworking of a century-old play about medical ethics and antisemitism.
The original drama, called Professor Bernhardi, was written by Arthur Schnitzler and first performed in Berlin in 1912.
But Icke’s play is set firmly in the digital age and is a sweeping exploration of not just ethics but of race, religion, class and abortion rights. While keeping to the central premise of a standoff between doctor and priest, Icke turns everything else inside out.
Professor Bernhardi, the male head of a prestigious Alzheimer’s clinic, becomes Professor Ruth Wolff in Icke’s tale in which women play men, black actors play white characters and vice versa.
The professor is treating a young teenage girl after a botched selfadministered abortion. The girl does not know that she is dying and Ruth wants to keep it this way so as not to upset her. Meanwhile the girl’s parents, who are travelling to her bedside, have asked their Catholic priest to administer last rites.
When he arrives, Ruth refuses to let him see the girl on ethical grounds and a bitter argument ensues, some of which the priest records on his mobile phone. Meanwhile the girl dies in some distress having heard that the priest is there and realising that her death is imminent.
Of course the situation goes viral on social media with petitions and newspaper articles. The clinic, fearful of adverse publicity threatening funding for a prestigious new building, handles the situation badly, while Ruth sticks rigidly to her ethical stance. This leads to an inquiry, dismissal, death threats and violence – a public hanging in a digital age.
Stevenson’s portrayal of the professor is brilliant, for Ruth is not an easy character for whom to feel sympathy. Abrasive, intolerant and fixed in the belief of her own rightness, she is politically and emotionally naïve, doing herself no favours in a hostile TV debate.
It’s a wordy play – and long – as discussions range back and forth, opinions turning on designer Hildegard Bechtler’s stripped-back metaphorical set as it revolves at infinitessimal speed. Set high above it a lone drummer – Hannah Ledwidge – beats out the emotional tempo.
It’s never dull, sometimes funny, especially in the scenes with Ruth’s young transgender friend Sami, well played by Matilda Tucker.
Come the end, stripped of her job, her authority and her ego, and suffering the loss of Sami, who she unthinkingly betrayed during the TV show, we see a more human side to Ruth.
As she and the priest (an excellent John Mackay) sit quietly in her garden discussing their callings, he reflects that “Jesus didn’t live in the digital age”. Ruth replies: “They crucify people differently now.”
Thought-provoking and resonant with numerous contemporary issues, this is an excellent production. Don’t miss it.
The Doctor plays at Theatre Royal Bath until Saturday, September 17, and then transfers to London’s West End. Call the box office on 01225 448844 or go online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk