Bernard Shaw's 1906 play (on Broadway in 1915, 1927 and 1941 before being filmed in a nice 1958 version with many old Shavian hands involved) deals with a classic conflict of managing medical resources in a triage situation centering on the then timely topic of TB (consumption). Shaw doesn't let pass his best satiric jibes at a medical profession he believed as prone as any other industry to become blinded by the biases of its specialties - but his central plot turns on the ethical quandary of balancing the lives of good but minor man (and a friend) and a brilliant artistic rotter (and the husband of a woman the doctor might like to see free).


Run time 118 minutes

CAST

Laurence Mitchell: Redpenny / The Newspaperman
Patsy Byrne: Emmy 
Ian McDiarmid: Sir Colenso Ridgeon 
Toby Salaman: Doctor Leo Schutzmacher 
Bernard Horsfall: Sir Patrick Cullen 
Martin Jarvis: Cutler Walpole 
Tony Britton: Sir Ralph Bloomfield Bonington 
Robert Demeger: Doctor Blenkinsop 
Victoria Hamilton: Jennifer Dubedat 
James Callis: Louis Dubedat 
Harriet Cater: Minnie Tinwell 
Simon Scott: A Waiter / Mr. Danby, the Secretary
Music composed by Julian Philips
Directed by Michael Grandage

A studio recording (made during the British national tour) of the Almeida Theatre's acclaimed, 1998 production, originally aired on BBC R3 on 2nd May 1999