THE BASICS: Bernard Shaw’s send up of the medical profession, played as a neat little domestic melodrama. This production, at the Shaw’s Festival Theatre through October 30th, runs approximately two hours and forty minutes, with a single intermission.
THUMBNAIL SKETCH: London, turn of the last century. Sir Colenso Ridgeon, master physician and laboratory wizard, has come up with a genuine cure for TB–a happy alternative to the bumbling, quackery and guesswork that’s been foisted upon the public by some of his less talented colleagues. The trouble is, the required wonder drug is in very short supply, and the doctor can squeeze in treatment for just one more “worthy” patient. Will it be the kindly, self-effacing Dr. Blenkinsop, a practitioner of no particular merit, or the flashy Louis Dubedat, a brilliant but devious and maddeningly amoral artist? And there’s a kicker: Sir Colenso, a long time bachelor, is finding himself more and more attracted to Jennifer Dubedat, the artist’s beautiful, crusading young wife. Can he pawn Dubedat off on an inept colleague, in the hopes of eventually winning Mrs. D. as a widow? Would it be murder?
THE CAST: This being the Shaw Festival, the cast is of course pretty competent, but there are no real standout performances. Silver-haired Patrick Galligan is certainly the right type for Sir Colenso Ridgeon, but he hangs back, and so do several other cast members. As Jennifer Dubedat, Krista Colosimo gives us some much needed gusts of passion, but her words are often less than clear in the cavernous Festival house. And Catherine McGregor’s cheeky housekeeper, Emmy, is all but unintelligible. The whole cast seems to lack energy, punch. They need a good collective shot in the arm!
PRODUCTION VALUES, ETC: This Doctor’s Dilemma is too static, and seems a little lost on the Festival’s great stage. The debating doctors have a tendency to stand around like waxworks for rather long periods, while the various concepts are being bandied about. The words are great, true. Shaw’s in top form here, lambasting a profession for which he had very little respect. But director Panych fails to bring it all to robust life, and must ultimately take the lion’s share of the blame. Ken MacDonald’s sets, featuring monstrously oversized x-rays and huge microscope-slide-inspired “paintings” of the TB bacilli, are fun and inventive. There are handsome period costumes from Charlotte Dean. And a couple of old Rolling Stones songs provide surprisingly effective incidental music!
FINAL THOUGHTS: Excellent play, less than stellar production. I still have fond memories of the Shaw’s own 2000 mounting. The present one just doesn’t compare. That said, there’s quite a bit to like here, and you can have a perfectly good time, I think, if you keep your expectations in line…
RATING: THREE BUFFALOS (out of five).