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Love life and death

January 31 2003

Two doctors fall for each other while dealing with euthanasia. Charles Purcell reports.

Where Darlinghurst Theatre, 19 Greenknowe Avenue, Potts Point
When Previews Tuesday, season from Wednesday until February 22
How much $27/$21
Bookings 8356 9987

Someone you care for is dying. And dying hard. Doctors have diagnosed the patient with HIV. There's almost nothing you can do but watch the painful wasting away. But what if there was something you could do? What if you were a doctor and you decided to break your Hippocratic oath and speed up the process?

Euthanasia is the central theme of Savage Grace, which has its Sydney premiere at the Darlinghurst Theatre on Wednesday.

It's likely to touch a few raw nerves considering how topical euthanasia is at the moment, with the furore over Dr Philip Nitschke's pro-euthanasia group Exit Australia and newspaper headlines such as "'Too tired' Ruth takes lethal dose".

But despite its subject matter, the award-winning play may provoke more thought than outrage. Since its debut in 2000 there haven't been scenes of pro-life advocates waving placards outside theatres in Adelaide and Perth.

"I would love it if there had been," says Sydney playwright Alana Valentine. "It's been incredibly well received. It has lots of intellectual arguments but it's also very witty and pretty sexy. People get their gear off; there's a bit of underpants acting. The characters are two intelligent, sexy gay men, and they're very professional, smart kinds of people. I think a lot of the gay plays we see are about the party scene or the bar scene and this is really nowhere near there. This is a play for people who like their theatre with gristle."

The play will be directed by Sally Richardson, regarded in West Australian theatre circles as one of its most creative talents. She is confident that the play, which has been picked up by Australian producers Performing Lines, has plenty to offer Sydney audiences.

"Alana's writing is quite acerbic and has a sharp wit - she can entertain while being thought-provoking," she says.

Savage Grace revolves around two men working in an Australian hospital, Dr Ted Cladakis (Gibson Nolte), an American HIV expert, and Professor Barvaro (Humphrey Bower), the hospital ethicist. After the possibly medically assisted death of a patient on the AIDS ward - Cladakis is considered a possible suspect - all of the doctors are asked to take ethics sessions with Barvaro. Cladakis attends the sessions with Barvaro and both men find themselves physically and intellectually attracted to each other, despite their often violently different ethical positions (for instance, Bavaro is a Christian).

The issues at stake become more personal when HIV sufferer Jeremy declares that he is ready to take his own life and invites the pair to a "final" dinner at his home.

Will one of them be asked to perform the role of Dr Death?

"Jeremy is never seen but the actors perform role plays of him," says Valentine. "They're incredibly beautifully done. It's some of the most beautiful stuff in the play when they perform the patient roles.

"I've been through the experience of having maybe nine friends of mine die during the HIV pandemic of the '80s, and I've just had an email about a man in the States who died of HIV, so it's still happening; it's just not on the front page."

The play's themes have resonated quite strongly with audiences on both sides of the euthanasia debate.

"It has developed more interest [than controversy]," says Richardson. "It's quite bizarre to see a play that's very contemporary that involves two gay male characters where you'll have a bunch of 60-year-old grandmothers coming along. Its appeal is quite wide and people stay behind after the show to talk about it.

"We had people from Exit Australia come along in Perth and invite us to perform at their national conference this year. We even had someone from the New Zealand voluntary euthanasia society contact us about performing."

Says Valentine: "The question is not really whether doctors [commit euthanasia] - in the play it's mentioned that 30 per cent of US doctors admit to assisting the death of a patient - but whether they should legitimately be allowed to do so or whether the State should be brought in."

Despite more than a decade of writing plays, Savage Grace is Valentine's first to run in her home town. Now she'll have two in the same year: Savage Grace and Run Rabbit Run!, which is to be staged at Belvoir Street.

"Run is about the community of South Sydney and why ... why ... putting a rugby league team back into the competition is so important. I've been so shocked - these people are like working-class philosophers, they're fantastic. And they stick to their values and fight for what they believe in, in a way I just didn't think was possible any more."




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