Theatre
Doctor Knock
Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine
Jules Romains · 1923
Synopsis
Doctor Knock arrives in Saint-Maurice to succeed Doctor Parpalaid, who has sold him his practice. He discovers that it is almost non-existent: the inhabitants are in good health and do not go to the doctor. He then announces a free consultation through the town crier, allies himself with the schoolteacher Bernard and the pharmacist Mousquet, and sets about persuading everyone that they are ill without knowing it.
Context
The comedy was first staged in Paris in December 1923, directed by Louis Jouvet, who also played the title role; he took it up again on film in 1933 and then in 1951, and the play was also filmed in 1925 and in 2017. Harley Granville-Barker adapted it into English under the title Doctor Knock, performed in London from April 1924. The line to the effect that healthy people are sick people who do not know it has remained proverbial.
Who it is for
Three short acts and a clear comic language; the consultation scenes of the second act can also be read on their own.
Prizes and reception
It is its author's greatest success in the theatre; Granville-Barker's English version appeared in book form in 1925.
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