Mark Rylance to star in critically acclaimed DR SEMMELWEIS in the West End

Mark Rylance will return to the West End this summer in Dr Semmelweis, beginning performances at the Harold Pinter Theatre on 29 June and running until 7 October.

The critically acclaimed Bristol Old Vic production, directed by Tom Morris, opened in 2022, and sees Rylance reprise the title role.

“We are the doctors of the modern age. We are marching into battle.”

Mark Rylance returns to the West End as one of medicine’s greatest pioneers, maverick Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis – the man whose research could save many millions of mothers’ lives.

But what good is a discovery when it falls on deaf ears?

In Vienna, a city of artistic and scientific revolution, thousands of women are still dying in childbirth each and every year. Only Dr Semmelweis can see the invisible killer at work, but to stop it, he must convince his colleagues to admit culpability and approve change.

Damned by an establishment that questions his methods, his motives and even his sanity, Semmelweis is haunted by the women he has failed to save. Can he finally convince the greatest doctors of 19th century Europe to accept his argument – and what will it cost him to make an almost impossible case?

Rylance said: "Here is a person who makes one of the most important discoveries in modern medicine - what we now call ‘Bacteria’ - and yet he is pretty much unknown because for forty years, until Louis Pasteur and Dr Lister make the same discovery, no one will listen to him.  Why?

“I was intrigued. The inspiration to act our story with a chorus of ballet dancers and a quartet representing the many thousands of mothers who perished unnecessarily, makes this a very powerful piece of theatre for me. I am thrilled to be reviving it in London at the Harold Pinter Theatre."

The production has set and costume design by Ti Green, with lighting by Richard Howell, choreography by Antonia Franceschi, and music by Adrian Sutton.

Booking for National Theatre Members, Bristol Old Vic Members and ATG Theatre Card Members opens on 17 March at midday. To sign up for advance booking, please click here by 22 March – with tickets available from 24 March for those who have signed up, and for SFP Mailing List Members. Public booking opens on 31 March at midday.