A young woman is dying after an unsuccessful abortion. The Catholic priest who wants to give her the final unction is at the door, but the attending doctor refuses him entry. Reason: The doomed woman does not know how bad things are for her, and it should stay that way. The scandal that this creates will ultimately cost the doctor his career. Arthur Schnitzler described in his play “Professor Bernhardi” from 1912 in minute detail how the Jewish title hero, a successful clinic director, fell victim to an anti-Semitically motivated bullying campaign.
In his drama “Die Ärztin”, the English playwright and director Robert Icke brings the play into the present. The medical college is no longer a pure man’s world; the main character, Professor Ruth Wolff, is a woman here. She runs a private clinic that specializes in Alzheimer’s patients. The central conflict of the play is exacerbated by the fact that the pastor is black – in addition to religion and gender, race also comes into play.
The 35-year-old Robert Icke first caused a sensation in London with his classic adaptations and is now also in demand on the continent. After productions in Stuttgart (“Oresty”) Amsterdam (“Oedipus”) and Basel (“witch hunt”) he made his Vienna debut with “Ärztin”. Icke developed the concept of the London premiere production (“The Doctor”, 2019) one on one on the Burgtheater stage transfer. The stage design by Hildegard Bechtler and the percussive, live drumming sound design by Tom Gibbons are kept sober, and although the scenery doesn’t look like a hospital at all, the atmosphere is somewhat aseptic.
Remains aseptic: Robert Icke’s rewriting of a play by Arthur Schnitzler
(Photo: Marcella Ruiz Cruz / Marcella Ruiz Cruz)
This rubs off on the actors, who hardly have the opportunity to develop lively, exciting or at least funny characters. Even Sophie von Kessel in the leading role remains pretty one-dimensional, although, unlike Bernhardi, we also get to know Professor Wolff as a private person. She lives in a lesbian relationship with the meek Charlie (Sandra Selimovic), who unfortunately – of all people! – Alzheimer’s is suffering. Even human tragedy has something constructed in this theses drama.
Professor Bernhardi is sentenced to two months in prison; Professor Wolff is being tried by the media. First a shitstorm rushes through the internet, then she is cross-examined on a TV show by a pastor, an anti-abortionist, a Judaist and an expert on post-colonial theory. Whether Icke is actually about examining the conflict from really every conceivable angle, or whether the scene is to be understood more as a satirical criticism of wokeness excesses, is not entirely clear – and that is probably exactly the intention.
Compared to the smart classic overwriting by the Australian Simon Stone, “The Doctor” looks rather crude. In addition, the production did not survive the transfer to the mainland unscathed. When casting, for example, Icke takes no account of gender or skin color; Women are played by men, whites by blacks – and vice versa. A trick that triggers productive irritation, but in the much more diverse London theater is probably less artificial than in Vienna.
Only at the very end, when everything is lost and Professor Wolff has stopped fighting, can Sophie von Kessel finally let go; the last scene in which she meets the pastor (Philipp Hauß) again is the strongest of the evening. Once again they debate the case that started it all. “If a lie means hope, then this lie could save lives,” says the doctor. “We have known that for a long time in my profession,” replies the pastor dryly.