Dr Semmelweis

Mark Rylance back on stage again is always a moment for celebration, even when I am back in the gods, looking mainly at the top of his head.  This was made more challenging in the first half by a tall man in front of me, fidgeting and (I can’t believe it but it really is true)  wearing a hat. Luckily there was a vacant seat along the row so the second half was much better and ironically the man took his hat off, just possibly triggered by me muttering about hats in theatres.  

Rylance in the title role, plays the man who discovered a way to stop the huge number of maternal and infant deaths from purpureal fever but then was not listened to, due partly to the failure of those medical men to listen, but also due to his own failure to manage the way he communicated the message.  A story about science and the human failure to listen and act, it feels quite timely given the science that humanity is collectively ignoring at the moment.  But it is also a human drama and a tragedy, showing a man broken and thousands more dead as a result of his failure.  And with dance and string quartet too, a winning combination.

Semmelweis starts as the enthusiastic geek, connecting the dots to reach his discovery., but gradually becomes overwhelmed by anger and frustration as first his ideas and then he is dismissed, despite his ideas showing results.  Rylance gives another of his very physical  performances combined with his distinctive approach to speaking the text, stuttering and repeating words and lines, throwing some away then catching them and bringing them back, sometimes making it hard to follow.  It’s the mix that makes him such a magnetic performer, as irresistible on stage as ever. As Semmelweis he gives us a barely controlled ball of energy, firstly with concentration and excitement of discovery, turning into frustration and anger which lashes out in all the wrong directions.

The surrounding characters bring the whole thing to life. The calmness and rationality of the allies around him, arguing for a more politically sensitive approach falls on deaf ears.   The emotional engagement is ramped up by the musicians and troupe of dancers who play the mothers dying unnecessarily and their ghosts, haunting Semmelweis, initially in the margins but eventually joining together in righteous anger to overwhelm him with his guilt and their fury.

The play was a bit overlong and fussy at the start, but it came together beautifully by the end, and I loved those final stomping angry dances.  Although, shockingly, it was another 40 years of more unnecessary deaths of women, the poor, and others without a voice before doctors accepted that they might be part of the problem and they should wash their hands.  So not really what you could call a happy ending in any sense but a story worth telling.