Dr Semmelweis
Harold Pinter Theatre Thu 29 Jun – Sat 7 Oct 2023
STARRING MARK RYLANCE
Mark Rylance returns to the West End as one of medicine’s greatest pioneers, maverick Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis – the man whose research could save many millions of mothers’ lives. But what good is a discovery that is ignored?
In Vienna, a city of artistic and scientific revolution, thousands of women are still dying in childbirth each and every year. Only Dr Semmelweis can see the invisible killer at work, but to stop it, he must convince his colleagues to admit culpability and approve change.
Damned by an establishment that questions his methods, his motives and even his sanity, Semmelweis is haunted by the women he has failed to save. Can he finally convince the greatest doctors of 19th century Europe to accept his argument – and what will it cost him to make an almost impossible case?
Recommended for ages 14+. References to suicide, and infant and maternal mortality.
The production is not able to guarantee the appearance of any specific actor due to illness or unforeseen circumstances.
