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The Doctor's Dilemma Audible Audiobook – Original recording

George Bernard Shaw (Author), full cast (Narrator), L.A. Theatre Works (Publisher)
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 39 ratings
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The blowhards, the know-it-alls, the scrupulous and the impecunious are all targets for Shaw's incisive wit in his classic satire of the medical profession. A well-respected physician is forced to choose whom he shall save: a bumbling friend or the ne'er-do-well husband of the woman he loves.

Includes a conversation with Dr. Neil Wenger, the Director of the Healthcare Ethics Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The Doctor's Dilemma is part of L.A. Theatre Works' Relativity Series featuring science-themed plays. Lead funding for the Relativity Series is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, bridging science and the arts in the modern world.

Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles in December 1998.

Adapted for Radio and Directed by: Rosalind Ayres

Producing Director: Susan Albert Loewenberg

An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring:

Jane Carr as Emmy/Minnie Tinwell

Gregory Cooke as Redpenny/Newspaper Man

Kenneth Danziger as Dr. Blinkensop/Mr. Danby

Roy Dotrice as Sir Patrick Cullen

Martin Jarvis as Sir Colenso Ridgeon

Jennifer Dundas as Jennifer Dubedat

Simon Templeman as Cutler Walpole

Douglas Weston as Louis Dubedat

Paxton Whitehead as Sir Ralph Bonington

Recording and Mixing Engineers: Raymond Guarna, Ed Cerrato; Sound Effects Artist: Jon Lovick

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  1. Listening Length
    1 hour and 50 minutes
  2. Author
    George Bernard Shaw
  3. Narrator
    full cast
  4. Audible release date
    June 7, 2001
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    L.A. Theatre Works
  7. ASIN
    B000GPCO2G
  8. Version
    Original recording
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 1 hour and 50 minutes
Author George Bernard Shaw
Narrator full cast
Audible.com Release Date June 07, 2001
Publisher L.A. Theatre Works
Program Type Audiobook
Version Original recording
Language English
ASIN B000GPCO2G
Best Sellers Rank #419,710 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#1,159 in Drama & Plays (Audible Books & Originals)
#1,481 in European Literature (Audible Books & Originals)
#3,356 in British & Irish Dramas & Plays

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
39 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Andres V.
5.0 out of 5 stars More than 100 years later his words hold true
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2015
Verified Purchase
If you want to know what's wrong with our current healthcare system, read this book.
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E P Bharucha
3.0 out of 5 stars dilemma
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2015
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The Dilemma is answered, but not as one expected!

If you could save only one person who will you save?

A very talented scoundrel whose work gave pleasure to many or a dull and good person?

I will not give out the ending you will have to read the book to find out.

The play is still topical, but the long preface is dated and can be skipped through.

T
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Julie M
3.0 out of 5 stars Classic Shaw tale
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2014
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Interesting to see a play performed earlier than I chose to read the text. Classic George Bernard Shaw story challenging the social mores of the time.
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Marie Martin
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and Raises Serious Questions..
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2010
In this excellent story a doctor finds himself personally and ethically conflicted when he must decide whom he will give the only cure to, a poor medical colleague who is a good man or a brilliant artist who is an unpleasant individual and whose wife the doctor is in love with.
The characters in this tale are amazingly well conceived, the premise is most intriguing, and the dialogue is very witty.
This is a brilliant work that examines serious issues that occurred, and still occur, in the medical field. The theme of the play raises the question of what happens when life-saving treatments are so scarce or expensive that only some people can have them while others must go without. In those cases who should decide who gets treated and for what reasons?

Shaw is my favorite of the Victorian playwrights. His works were revolutionary in many ways. Use of humor was rare and exceptional for playwrights during that era, but Shaw was not afraid to make audiences laugh. He also tackled serious moral, political, and social issues in his plays at a time when sappy dramas were all the rage. He was truly bold and innovative and greatly contributed to dramatic art. He had an amazing gift, the ability to make people think while simultaneously making them laugh.

Reading Shaw's works are a genuine treat. All of his plays are fabulous. His characters are memorable, and his humor is brilliant.
2 people found this helpful
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Peter John Pols
5.0 out of 5 stars A humorous take on serious ethical issues
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2010
This is a humorous take on the serious issue of a doctor being forced to choose between patients in a life or death situation. In this case the doctor must choose between a friend and a rival with his personal feelings playing havoc with him. This is Shaw's comedic way of bringing up the issue of doctors being made to play God when medicine is in short supply, and he compels us to think about how those decisions are made.
Shaw pokes fun at his cast of characters who mirror people in real life. He raises valid questions about medical ethics while making you laugh at the inanity of it all. This is a wonderful masterpiece, funny, relevant, and great food for thought.
George Bernard Shaw created numerous masterpieces over the span of his writing career. He has the distinction of being the only person to ever be awarded both an Oscar and the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was a very humble and conscientious man, a political activist and a vegetarian. His conscientiousness shows in his work by his inability to write meaningless fluff at a time when fluff dominated the stage. His trademark is his classic use of ample humor in dramas with serious subject matter. It takes a special kind of genius to be able to pull that off as flawlessly as he did.
2 people found this helpful
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Kylie Edwards
5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful and brilliant!
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2010
Sometimes I forget that doctors are just as susceptible to allowing their feelings to get in the way of doing their job as anyone else. This was a great story about a doctor struggling with the feelings he had for the people in his care and how it affected his decision regarding their treatment.

I thought the way that Shaw characterized the medical staff was hilarious, and the dilemma he put the doctor in was very intriguing. I couldn't wait to find out who he chose and was tempted to skip ahead to see.

This story was smart and funny. I loved it and wanted more when it was over. I'll have to buy another one of his books. I just love his style.

I can't resist any chance I can get to peek into the mind of a genius, and Shaw was a true genius. This story was delightful and brilliant.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Concepción Pérez
2.0 out of 5 stars La encuadernación no es buena
Reviewed in Spain on May 16, 2016
Verified Purchase
Los libros editados por Penguin suele tener una encuadernación aceptable, pero "The Doctor's Dilemma" está mal encuadernado, cuesta pasar las hojas y cruje cada vez que abres el libro para leer. No lo recomiendo.
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Johnpen
2.0 out of 5 stars Be careful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2012
Verified Purchase
Shaw meant that his plays should be read as well as performed. Imagine my disappointment therefore when I bought this edition only to find that it did not contain his preface.
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