The Doctor’s Dilemma

At Shaw Festival until October 30

Reviewed by Ron Singer, Entertainment Critic

“Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose”!

Or for those of you unfamiliar with that wonderful and often applicable French expression, “The more things change, the more they stay the same” And that, dear reader, is not referring to this play. I’m referring to the play’s subject matter – namely, doctors and socialized medicine. For, although this play was written in 1906 in London, many of the issues remain incredibly relevant pretty well universally in the year 2010.

The Doctor’s Dilemma deals with the problems and issues around the introduction of socialized medicine in Great Britain over a century ago, plus the moral dilemmas that doctors not infrequently faced and, in fact, still must deal with today in their day to day practices.

In this particular instance, the doctor in question is Sir Colenso Ridgeon, excellently performed by Shaw stalwart Patrick Galligan. He is faced with the problem of having to play God by deciding which one of his patient’s life – the artist or a fellow doctor – is worth saving, given that the good doctor has an extremely limited supply of medicine. And this topic generously allows George Bernard Shaw, one the best wordsmiths in the world of playwrights, to fill his script with provocative phrases like, “Medicine is not a profession but a conspiracy”, “To put a serum in this doctor’s hands is murder” or “You think you are a little God?”

So on the one hand, Shaw takes pot-shots at doctors, whom he generally considered to be profit-oriented charlatans. On the other hand, because Shaw was an ardent supporter of a public health system, he goes out of his way in this play to begin to shape arguments for socialized medicine by stating unequivocally, for example, “as long as the profit motive remained at the core of the medical profession, that self interest rather than public interest would govern medical practice.”

For those of you who love the art of highly intelligent verbal gymnastics when they are directly and philosophically aimed at topical social, health and political issues and are theatrically debated by six very loquacious doctors (Galligan, Michael Ball, Patrick McManus, Thom Marriott, Ric Reid and Jonathan Widdifield), you’ll absolutely enjoy this well designed (Ken MacDonald-set, Charlotte Dean-costumes), cleverly staged (Morris Panych-director) and strongly acted production.

Love, Loss & What I Wore

Toronto Panasonic Theatre, until September 4

Reviewed by Ron Singer

Love, Loss and What I Wore is about memories, mammaries and much, much more. It’s a play based on shared experiences primarily dedicated to women’s dependence and obsession with clothing and their bodies. It’s a delightful afternoon or evening’s entertainment aimed mostly at women, 20 years old and older, but in my opinion, will probably be more meaningful to those over 40 and it can, most definitely, also resonate for the ‘thoughtful’ male.

This play is based on a book by Ilene Beckerman, who had saved all of her clothing and then, at one point later in life, when she realized that there were interesting and nostalgic memories and stories associated with each saved item, wrote a book telling those stories. The Ephron Sisters, Nora and Delia, then created this play by taking that book and expanding the concept and adding stories from other women.

Love Loss and What I Wore features a stellar rotating cast, starting this past week (July 21st) with Mary Walsh, Louise Pitre, Sharron Mathews, Andrea Martin and Paula Brancati, who will then pass on the story-telling duties in several weeks’ time to five other superb Canadian actresses. This production and script in the hands of these truly talented actors, offers the audience ample opportunity to both laugh and cry, since the stories range from laugh out loud comedic to poignant, sad and downright tragic or embarrassing, like the young, fashionably dressed woman who accidentally stained someone’s brand new and very expensive white sofa, because she unexpectedly started menstruating.

The actors actually sit on chairs the entire time and take turns, either telling or reading their stories. But at no time was I ever distracted or bored by the lack of costumes, props, scenery and/or movement. These versatile performers were always able to bring the characters and their stories to vivid life. And while all of these performers are as adept at handling the comic moments as they are at the sad or tragic, Andrea Martin, not surprisingly, stands out with her comic turns.

In some instances it’s the occasion that leads to memories of the clothes worn, while in other instances, it’s the exact reverse, an item of clothing reminds the storyteller of a special event.

And the myriad of topics covered by these memories range from aging to lipstick, Madonna’s influence on fashion, proms, shirts, panties, shoes, weight, jewelry, mirrors, shopping, purses, brides, mothers, bras, changing sizes, wedding days, divorces and very familiar and probably universal phrases like, “I’ve got nothing to wear, I only look good in black and I can’t find my…”, to name but a few of the subjects with which almost all women and girls can identify.

For those of you familiar with the play, The Vagina Monologues, you’ll probably find this play similar because of the staging and the emphasis on women’s concerns, but it is certainly less provocative.

This play with an American cast, has been packing them in off Broadway in New York for just under a year now and my guess is it’ll be just as successful here in TO.

About Ron Singer: Artistic Director Emeritus of The Randolph Academy of the Performing Arts, former Chair of the Department of Theatre at York University, former entertainment critic (CFRB Radio and Standard Broadcast News), and former  arts and entertainment reporter (CBC Variety Tonight).