The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2019 - Issue 26

THE DOCTOR bite theatre Paul Higgins in The Doctor A s Professor Doctor Ruth Wolff, the Founding Director and Chief Medical Director of the Elizabeth Institute says “It’s over when there’s a body.” However, this time it’s anything but ‘over’ for Dr. Ruth ‘BB’ (Big Bad) Wolff with this particular patient. Over the decades we’ve watched many TV hospital drama series, getting awe-inspired by the tensions, emotions and life-or-death deci- sions the doctors have had to make regarding their patients, sometimes resulting in tragedy. Despite my ultimate respect for doctors, that kind of work is something I’d rather not have to encounter. Yes, it’s fiction, but as art is main- ly based on reality, to watch a hospital drama played out on stage was a real treat, throwing me into a state of witnessing the drama unfold as though I were there in every room the play entailed. What then cherry-topped this experience was the added fact that the brilliant and formidable Juliet Stevenson played the main character, de- manding focused attention right from the open- ing scene. Her character felt like Anne Robinson in a lab coat: acerbic, obnoxious, pedantic and occasionally witty, but also brilliant, sharp and intelligent. The stage is set with a long 14-seater metal and a wooden table with attached seating, almost like a smart picnic-table, and is the only mul- ti-scene piece of the play, with pieces of it taken away, moved around or added to throughout. The floor occasionally rotates and there is a drummer situated in a mezzanine box above the stage, at the back. The play opens to Wolff sitting alone, and on the phone, with the drummer adding tension via percussion of a heartbeat. She is asking about who she needs for a dead body collection. Al- ready we audience want to know more. Who has died? If she’s a doctor, how come she doesn’t know who to call for the incident? Wouldn’t the hospital she works in know what to do? So many questions! The scene quickly changes to all the actors on stage in mufti, finishing getting dressed, most into hospital scrubs. Then the ac- tion begins. A young teen, Emily, is being kept comfortable at the hospital following a botched DIY preg- nancy termination she had failed to fully com- plete, causing sepsis to develop and take over her body. Dr. Wolff knows it’s too late for the young girl; it’s inevitable she will die soon but, as her doctor, she tries to ensure the girl’s final moments are as peaceful as could be. Theatre Review