The Mock Doctor
The Mock Doctor: or The Dumb Lady Cur'd is a play by Henry Fielding and first ran on 23 June 1732 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It served as a replacement for The Covent-Garden Tragedy and became the companion play to The Old Debauchees. It tells the story of a man who pretends to be a doctor at his wife's request and his exploits.
The play is an adaptation of Molière's Le Medecin malgre Lui though it has an emphasis on theatrics over a faithful translation. It is a pure comedy and, unlike other plays by Fielding, has no serious moral lesson or purpose. The play was far more successful than The Covent-Garden Tragedy. Contemporary critics disagreed over whether the play was inferior to the original, but modern critics believed Fielding's version was equally impressive.
Read more about The Mock Doctor: Background, Cast, Plot, Themes, Sources, Critical Response
Famous quotes containing the words mock and/or doctor:
“Sometimes we see a cloud that’s dragonish,
A vapor sometimes like a bear or lion,
A towered citadel, a pendant rock,
A forked mountain, or blue promontory
With trees upon ‘t that nod unto the world
And mock our eyes with air. Thou hast seen these signs;
They are black vesper’s pageants.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“It’s like the doctor was just telling me, “Delirium is a disease of the night.” Good night.”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)