The Doctor will see you now…
The wait is over and an expectant hush descends across the waiting room as Robert Icke’s smash-hit Almeida Theatre production prepares to embark on its limited tour of the UK with an opening stint at our very own Theatre Royal Brighton. Following a sold-out run in 2019, in which it garnered both audience and critical claim with a slew of five-star reviews from The Guardian, The Telegraph and WhatsOnStage among others – this is a hotly anticipated second chance for audiences to experience this “brave and devastating” (The Financial Times) look at faith, science and ethics.
The Doctor is one of a myriad of hard-hitting, powerful productions to have been birthed by the Almeida over the past few years under the venue’s steady guidance by artistic director Rupert Goold. The play now visits Brighton, Bath and Richmond with Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply, Bend it Like Beckham, Mona Lisa Smile) reprising her role as Professor Ruth Wolff – for which she won a Critics’ Circle Award – ahead of its return to the West End (a third transfer for a collaborative effort by Stephenson and director Icke following Hamlet and Mary Stuart).
A modern retelling of Arthur Schniztler’s Professor Bernhardt, The Doctor promises an uncompromising study of those questions which currently divide us. Helmed by Robert Icke, “Britain’s best director” (The Telegraph), the show was originally developed and produced pre-Covid, with its subject matter only increasing in its pertinence since, proving a bitter and unflinching examination of what society must overcome in order to survive.
“So much has happened in the last two years since we first played the show,” says Stevenson. “I am so excited to share these new resonances and conversations with audiences, everywhere we go. Never has this debate been more needed.” And with 3,800 tickets available across the run at a heavily discounted rate exclusively for NHS employees and blue light workers, the production seems to be putting its money where its mouth is in playing its small part recognising what an equitable and socially conscious arts sector should look like.
This really is a show that us here at SOURCE are very, very excited to catch. It could be said that the mark of great theatre (or any art form) is its ability to retain and maintain relevance amidst an ever-shifting cultural landscape. The Doctor promises not only relevance but significance three years since its original outing; three years of turmoil, upheaval and change on a global scale. It is certainly an ambitious mission statement. Fortunately, the prognosis is a positive one.
Theatre Royal Brighton, Monday 5th September – Saturday 10th September 2022
For tickets and further information click here
