Play Review: Dr. Glas

                            Dr. Glas

                        David Gerroll as "Dr. Glas"

The human animal is capable of wonderful and dreadful things, as anyone who’s seen a recent newscast can attest.

That fact is put into starker (but way more amusing) relief in Jeffrey Hatcher’s “Dr. Glas,” the latest filmed play from North Coast Repertory Theatre. David Ellenstein directs.

Based on a 1905 Swedish novel, Broadway veteran Daniel Gerroll plays Dr. Glas, who is treating both a humorless Protestant pastor and his wife (who is having an extramarital affair). To further complicate things, Dr. Glas (who treats the spouses separately) falls in love with the wife. Playwright Hatcher had his work cut out for him – and succeeded admirably.

The play, like the novel, is in journal form, and the audience gets to watch as Dr. Glas goes through his own twists and turns in treating these two patients while trying to connect sexually with the wife on the side. The not-so-good doctor’s contempt for social conventions like marriage, religion and fidelity (he regards them as evidence of repression) make this possible and set up a fascinating, amusing and timely – if cynical – story.

Gerroll is excellent as the chameleon-like doctor, who tries to tailor his prescriptions to fit both his patient’s needs and his own desires. It requires quick thinking and imagination, with which both Gerroll and his character seem abundantly endowed, and the piece’s sixty minutes seem to fly by.

Kudos to Aaron Rumley, who gets quite a workout, taking care of cinematography and editing as well as projections and lighting. He’s also the stage manager and a camera operator (along with Phil Korth and Chris Williams).

Props to Marty Burnett, the theater’s set designer extraordinaire, and to costume designer Elisa Benzoni. 

North Coast Rep has made a habit of streaming filmed plays during the pandemic, and Ellenstein is quite proficient at it. “Dr. Glas” is the eighth such production, and in fact this is the first worldwide streaming of the play. Congratulations to all.

“Dr. Glas” streams through August 15 at northcoastrep.org.