“The Doctor’s Dilemma” by George Bernard Shaw
Cast: Roy Dotrice, Paxton Whitehead, Martin Jarvis, and Simon Templeman, with Jane Carr, Gregory Cooke, Kenneth Danziger, Jennifer Dundas Lowe, and Douglas Weston. Directed by Rosalind Ayres
George Bernard Shaw was one of the greatest and most controversial playwrights of the twentieth century. Shaw was never shy on social issues, and over the course of more than sixty plays, he advocated for human rights, women’s suffrage, socialized medicine, and the betterment of the working class. But if Shaw’s plays could be didactic, they were also wickedly funny, and his well-aimed satire continues to resonate in the present day, including our story this week, The Doctor’s Dilemma. Written in 1906, the play raises a question that’s relevant in any era: In a society where proper medical care is a privilege, not a right, how do we decide who deserves treatment and who does not?
