The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2019 - Issue 26

Lisa Ogun’ attended The Almeida Theatre to watch a new play written and directed by Robert Icke called The Doctor, which featured the acclaimed Juliet Stevenson in the title role, ahead of it moving onto the West End next spring. bite theatre Images courtesy of Manuel Harlan The girl does not know she is going to die despite her hysteria. This is why Dr. Wolff won’t allow for the priest, called by the girl’s parents on their way back from holi- day, to see the patient in fear that the girl will get worse upon the realisation of impending death. Why else would a priest perform last rites right? The priest is insistent, as is Dr. Wolff. An argument ensues outside the patient’s room where a blocking at the doorway by the doctor is later claimed to be an assault by the priest. “I put my hand on his shoul- der,” Wolff claims. As this all happens outside her room, the girl dies. What ensues next can only be regarded as a battle of hu- manity’s perceptions of ethics. The medical team (and in- deed perhaps the majority of the audience watching) are split on their views regarding Wolff ’s decision to keep the priest out. Was it an ethical one, especially given that she is an atheist? The girl’s family is Catholic. Some of Wolff ’s team ask would she have come to the same decision if she were not an atheist? But another overriding question is surely if the girl was inevitably going to die, why would having the priest in the room be considered such an offence to the girl’s wellbeing? Wolff herself asks: was the girl herself religious or obliged to attending to Ca- tholicism just because of her parents? These throw addi- tional mental dilemmas to the ethical decisions we, the audience, are considering as we watch. Oh, what a palaver! As Wolff points out, it is because of the Catholic views on abortion why this girl developed sepsis in the first place; explaining that if Emily had had access to a proper medical procedure none of the occurrences would have happened. Kirsty Rider (Front) in The Doctor