Dr. Rachel Wolff, a renowned scientist who heads a medical research institute, blocks the path of a priest who is about to give the last rites to a teenage girl at the hospital. The incident was recorded by the Catholic father on his phone. When it is broadcast on social networks, the crisis will erupt and become a national scandal.
Welcome to the heart of the information fog in the age of social networks. With Docteure, Robert Icke, one of the most renowned creators of current British theater, creates a powerful text. By addressing the theme of identity, of groups as well as individuals, his play touches on subjects that polarize society: racist prejudices, the notion of privilege, abortion, gender identities, science, medical ethics …
She calls Doctor a “moral thriller.” “It’s really an incursion into the interstices of power and dissensus,” continues the director. The piece makes us think and understand, from the inside, what it means to be at the heart of the debate, and to question the culture of banishment. »
Marie-Ève Milot directs a cast of 11 performers, including Pascale Montpetit, who has become rarer in the theater for around ten years. “I’ve wanted to work with Pascale for a long time,” she says. I offered her a role in my first play, Chienne(s), but she couldn’t. »
” I am a doctor. I don’t like labels,” says Rachel Wolff, the very complex protagonist defended by Pascale Montpetit. “When she makes this gesture towards the priest, she doesn’t see that it’s going to cause controversy. It all came down to a micro-event, a gesture that escaped him and which, ultimately, will have repercussions on the rest of his life. »
Robert Icke’s play premiered in London in 2019, with Juliet Stevenson in the lead role. It is freely adapted from Professor Bernhardi, a text by the Austrian Arthur Schnitzler written more than a century ago, which addresses interreligious conflicts. “It’s difficult to hear each other with the noise of history that washes over us like a wave,” says the character of the Catholic priest.
For both women, this line sums up the show very well. Their artistic approach favors divergent points of view and multiple perspectives.
When asked about her past theater roles [in the 1990s, she appeared in an average of four or five productions per season], she passes the buck. “You’re the one who can tell me. I never look in the rearview mirror. I prefer to project myself into the future. What interests me is not to do the same things again. Doctor, this is something I have never played, a play which is very much about words, dialogue, debate. »
“When I take on a new role, I ask myself what my playing field is, what cards I have in hand. If I have to play a halberdier [a soldier, an infantryman] who spends three hours holding a spear, I will manage to have fun; making micro-movements, rotating your head slightly…”
Docteure promises to offer a complete and engaging theatrical experience, both for artists and audiences.
