'The Doctor,' starring Juliet Stevenson, to return to the West End
The production will first tour England in September 2022.
The doctor is back in. After an acclaimed West End run at the Almeida Theatre in 2019, Robert Icke's The Doctor will premiere in the West End with Juliet Stevenson reprising her lead role as Professor Ruth Wolff. The show is at the Duke of York's Theatre from 29 September through 11 December.
Before settling into London, The Doctor will tour three other English cities, stopping in Brighton from 5-10 September, Bath from 13-17 September, and Richmond from 19-24 September.
Based loosely on Arthur Schnitzler's play Professor Bernhardi, The Doctor centers on the ethical dilemma Wolff faces as she treats a dying patient with sepsis. When a priest is sent to deliver her last rites and Wolff denies him entry, her decision makes national headlines as a divisive scandal concerning faith and medicine.
The five-star London Theatre review of the Almeida production says of Stevenson, "She has the coldness and determination of a stern senior doctor, but to see her blank on conversations and slowly fade away is heart-breaking. It's a magnificent leading performance from the kind of actor who makes you forget you're watching a play."
After premiering at the Almeida, The Doctor headlined the 2020 Adelaide Festival ahead of a planned West End transfer later that year, which was delayed to now amid the pandemic. The Doctor marks Stevenson's third West End transfer in an Icke production; she previously starred in his Mary Stuart and Hamlet.
The Doctor is at the Duke of York's Theatre from 29 September to 11 December.
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