A Noise Within Brings Us Shaw’s “The Doctor’s Dilemma”

By Fran Syverson

If you, as a doctor, must choose between two lives, only one of which you might probably save, how would you make the choice? By what yardstick would you convince yourself that one of the people is more worthy to continue to live than the other? age?…station in life?…personal relationship to you?
That, then, is “The Doctor’s Dilemma,” now playing at Pasadena’s newly refurbished theater, A Noise Within. George Bernard Shaw must have reveled in penning this play, considering his lifelong contentiousness and cynicism toward medical men and their practices. Dr. Colenso Ridgeon and his contemporaries personify the doctors of his era, each with a fanatical insistence that his theory about disease was the only plausible one.
Thus there is the medical issue, but Dr. Ridgeon’s dilemma also comes sharply into focus as a moral one when Jennifer Dubedat seeks him out to treat her talented, beloved artist husband. She feels his life must be saved, for he contributes so much to society with his sketches. Deborah Strang as Emmy, the housekeeper, repeatedly insists that the doctor see the woman. He hesitates. Since he has limited resources, he would have to choose between this man and his friend, Dr. Blenkinsop, also in dire need of treatment. Who is he to make such a decision?
While the drama focuses on the dilemma, it also brings romance and humor to entertain us.
As befits Shaw, Ridgeon’s colleagues spend the first act with a plethora of verbiage as each touts his own cure (albeit experimental) as well as the moral dilemmas they all face. Freddy Douglas and Robertson Dean exude confidence in their roles as leaders in the medical profession—such as it was early in the Twentieth Century. Apollo Dukakis lends a distinguished air to Sir Patrick Cullen, an older physician, but one still confident of his skills. David LM McIntyre is the hapless Dr. Blenkinsop. Geoff Elliott as the conflicted Dr. Ridgeon who holds people’s lives in his hands, nonetheless is still vulnerable to human biases and emotions.
They are all entranced by Jennifer, exquisite in gorgeous gowns, and charmingly and forcefully played by Jules Willcox. Hoping to evaluate Louis Dubedat’s case and need, Ridgeon invites the young couple and the doctors to a dinner party. They find they cannot deny Jennifer’s pleadings.
Later we visit Dubedat’s studio, where the imagery of an artist’s attic is strikingly created in a set by Susan Gratch. As the doctors arrive, the dashing Jason Dechert carries on with his sketching, but also attempts brazenly to ask for loans, cavalierly expecting the medics to ignore all his past failings in matters of women and money. Is this scoundrel—talented though he may be—worthy of being the one to be treated?
That some of the philosophical and ethical questions about medical care remain unsolved to this day, a century after Shaw wrote the play, will not go unnoticed by thoughtful theatergoers.
Kelly Ehlert and Rafael Goldstein round out the cast of superb repertory players in Shaw’s rarely performed indictment of medical practices of his time. Damaso Rodriguez skillfully directs.
“The Doctor’s Dilemma” will continue at A Noise Within through Nov. 25. Curtain times are 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2; Thursday, Nov. 8 & Friday, Nov. 9. Saturday performances are Nov. 17 at 2 & 8 p.m., and Nov. 24 at 8 p.m. Sundays are Nov. 11 at 2 & 7 p.m. and Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $40-$52. Contact the box office in person, via phone at 626-356-3100, or online at www.anoisewithin.org for updated pricing and seating availability.
A Noise Within is located at 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. Free parking is available in the Metro station which can be accessed off Halstead or from the Sierra Madre Villa off ramp of the 210 Foothill Freeway.

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