Playwright-director Robert Icke's The Doctor begins its North American premiere at Off-Broadway's Park Avenue Armory June 3. Starring Olivier winner Juliet Stevenson (Death and the Maiden, Hamlet), the thriller plays through August 19.
Starring alongside Stevenson are Christopher Osikanlu Colquhoun (Troilus & Cressida), Doña Croll (The Heresy of Love), Juliet Garricks (100 Paintings), Preeya Kalidas (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), Mariah Louca (Best of Enemies), John MacKay (Oresteia), Daniel Rabin (King Lear), Jaime Schwarz (Difficult People), Matilda Tucker (The Snow Queen), and Naomi Wirthner (An Evening at the Talkhouse), with Hannah Ledwidge on drums.
The thriller is a loose adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's Professor Bernhardi. Stevenson is subversively cast in the typically male titular role, now Professor Ruth Wolff, a prominent medical professional found in an ethical quandary. Professor Wolff makes a decision on the job to prohibit a priest from visiting a dying patient, placing her in the center of a heated national debate.
Joining Icke on the creative team are set and costume designer Hildegard Bechtler, lighting designer Natasha Chivers, and sound designer and composer Tom Gibbons. Casting is by Julia Horan with additional casting by Jim Carnahan.
“A few times in the course of a whole career, a play comes along that speaks with searing brilliance to the times we are living in," said Stevenson in a statement. "For me, The Doctor is the play and Ruth Wolff is the role. It takes no sides, but throws complex and contradictory ideas and questions up into the air and watches them catch the light."
Stevenson received an Olivier nomination for her performance. She has previously collaborated with Icke on his productions of Mary Stuart and Hamlet. Icke returns to Park Avenue Armory after presenting his adaptation of Oresteia and Hamlet in repertory at the Armory as part of its 2022 season.
The Doctor was originally produced by London's Almeida Theatre and in the West End by Ambassador Theatre Group Productions.
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