Dr Givings is a coolly rational man of 19th Century science, whose modern device for treating hysteria has many advocates – not least the female patients themselves, who come back wanting more. Lonely and struggling with new motherhood, Mrs Givings seeks the companionship of her husband’s patients and begins to discover the truth of what goes on in the next room.
Pamela Rabe directs a stellar cast in this charming comedy about knowing what is good for you even though there are no acceptable words for it.
WARNING: Contains sexual themes
Production photography by Brett Boardman. Key photography by Mike Newling.
What we want from poets is not so much an accurate description of the world, but a suggestion of something beyond it: something illusive, fragile, forgotten, neglected. This is what makes Sarah Ruhl a true poet of the theatre. In her new comedy she re-imagines a curious chapter in the early history of psychotherapy, when feelings, particularly women’s feelings, were regarded as ailments requiring a cure. At the racing heart of this play stands the idea that the opposite of ignorance is not knowledge but openness, a willingness to accept other people’s experience of life. The luminescent Jacqueline McKenzie returns to the stage to play Mrs Givings in this STC production, undoubtedly lured there by the prospect of being directed by MTC favourite Pamela Rabe.
Artistic Director Simon Phillips
Credits
