Mark Rylance is set to return to the West End to star in Dr Semmelweis, which will begin previews at the Harold Pinter Theatre on June 29th, ahead of an official opening night on July 11th with performances due to run until October 7th.
Dr. Semmelweis premiered at Bristol Old Vic in 2022 and charts the life and career of Ignaz Semmelweis, a visionary Hungarian doctor who attempted to convince his medical peers of the life-saving benefits of using antiseptic procedures.
Commenting on his latest West End appointment, Rylance said: "Here is a person who makes one of the most important discoveries in modern medicine - what we now call ‘Bacteria’ - and yet he is pretty much unknown because for forty years until Louis Pasteur and Dr. Lister make the same discovery, no one will listen to him. Why? I was intrigued. The inspiration to act our story with a chorus of ballet dancers and a quartet representing the many thousands of mothers who perished unnecessarily makes this a very powerful piece of theatre for me.”
Multi-award-winning actor Rylance will star in the play as Semmelweis. His previous credits in the West End and on Broadway include Nice Fish, Jerusalem, Farinelli and the King, Othello, and Twelfth Night.
Rylance reprises his role along with Roseanna Anderson as Baroness Maria-Teresa/Marja Seidel, Ewan Black as Franz Arneth, Joshua Ben-Tovim as Hospital Porter/ Death, Suzy Halstead as Violet-May Blackledge, Chrissy Brooke as Lisa Elstein, Millie Thomas as Agnes Barta, Felix Hayes as Ferdinand von Hebra, Pauline McLynn as Anna Müller, Meguim Eda as Aiko Eda, Jude Owusu as Jakob Kolletschka, Oxana Panchenko as Dance Ensemble, Max Westwell as Hospital Porter/ Death, Alan Williams as Johann Klein, Patricia Zhou as Dance Ensemble, Amanda Wilkin as Maria Semmelweis, and Daniel York Loh as Karl von Rokitansky.
The cast is completed by Jason Hogan, Helen Belbin, and Andrew McDonald along with the Salomé Quartet consisting of music director Haim Choi as Suk Hee Apfelbaum on Violin 1, Coco Inman as Sarah Schmidt on Violin 2, Shizuku Tatsuno as Oshizu Yukimura on Cello and Kasia Ziminska as Eszter Horowitz on Viola.
Stephen Brown and Rylance co-write Dr. Semmelweis. The wider creative team behind the play sees Tom Morris direct the production, with set and costume design by Ti Green, music by Adrian Sutton, lighting design by Richard Howell, and choreography by Antonia Franceschi.
Dr. Semmelweis is at the Harold Pinter Theatre.
Booking & Theatre Info For Dr. Semmelweis
The Harold Pinter Theatre is a medium size West End theatre which has a capacity of 799 seats and four levels of seating.
The venue has several different price bands and a variety of views are available in the auditorium due to restrictions from support pillars that are dotted throughout the seating area so studying the seating plan in detail before purchase is recommended. The best seats in the theatre are in the centre of the Stalls section, however, the overhang from the Dress Circle can affect the view towards the rear of this section which should be noted. Great views of the stage are also available from the second row of the Dress Circle for those who prefer to view the stage looking down from an elevated position.
There is value to be found within the theatre from studying the cut-off points of the many different price bands with many seats often being discounted due to the slightly restricted views. These seats can often be worth the risk for patrons looking for cheap tickets to Dr. Semmelweis, however, the Balcony can also be a good bet but has a distant, but clear, view and is ideal for patrons looking for discounts or lastminute shows in London.