Word: knockings
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Chan—an alum whose acting skills have typically proven fantastic—gets a chance to showcase them in a new way as the villainous main character, Dr. Knock. Although Knock is typically a male role, the unconventional decision to cast Chan proves well-founded...
...people of San Maurice are healthy until Dr. Knock comes to town. A character of dubious credentials who assumes the practice of a small town in France, Dr. Knock (pronounced “K-nock,” played by Julia C. Chan ’05) is driven by both materialistic and idealistic desires to his revolutionary “methods” of medicine. Dr. Knock plots to find disease in all his patients, and as he diagnoses them, they prove more and more pliable to his commands for modern treatment, with their eventual conversion to his methods...
...caustic wit and crisp British accent make Dr. Knock both sympathetic as the only voice of scientific logic in the small town of San Maurice and—once Dr. Knock successful converts the population of San Maurice to depend on his “treatments”—believable in his monstrosity as a megalomaniac authority figure who creates bedridden, paying patients out of healthy townspeople. Above all, she excels at that transition between disappointed young doctor and crazed dictator...
Jack E. Fishburn ’08 also delivers a reliably good performance as the original doctor in town, Dr. Parpalaid, who sells his practice to Dr. Knock. In his rumpled state, Parpalaid seems at first a conventional bumbling, foppish Old Boy, but comes to take on dramatic importance as a symbol of the traditional, pre-Knock way of life. Fishburn’s ability to command a scene works well for him here: his authoritative joviality makes him a convincingly comic, seemingly harmless persona at first, but allows him to also assume the role of a compelling dramatic character...
...whole, the actors who play the townspeople of San Maurice excel in their presentation of distinct personalities who all become increasingly receptive to the methods of Dr. Knock. Lillian Ritchie ’08 is especially noteworthy as Madame Parpalaid; although her role is limited, Ritchie demonstrates just the right combination of simpering and petulance for the role...