Finished: The Doctor's Dilemma (Shaw). An intriguing Shaw play! In the day and age when tuberculosis, or consumption as it was then called, was a death sentence, a doctor has discovered a cure. He's only got enough equipment and time to save ten people. He has already gruelingly picked out his ten patients, narrowed down from so many other worthy candidates. He tried to pick people who he felt were worthy and would make a difference in society if they lived. However, in the process, it broke his heart to turn down so many good people who had good lives, spouses and children and parents.

The play opens with Dr. Ridgeon, the doctor with the cure, having been knighted the evening before as Sir Colenso Ridgeon for his work in the field. As his doctor friends stop by to congratulate him, he discovers that one of his comrades, Dr. Bonington, or B.B. as he is known to his friends, had actually stopped by Ridgeon's lab, taken a vial of his "cure" medicine, and used it on the ailing young royal, Prince Henry. And...the cure worked and the boy was well! B.B. explains to Ridgeon that this is probably why he was knighted. Dr. Ridgeon tries to explain to B.B. that what he did was very dangerous and you can't just give the cure to a person at any time. There is a set level that a certain component of their blood needs to be at or else the medicine can be fatal. He tells B.B. that he was extremely lucky in curing the prince!

Meanwhile, a persistent young woman, Jennifer Dubedat, insists on talking to Dr. Ridgeon. She is charming and beautiful and begs Dr. Ridgeon to save her husband who is ill with consumption. Her husband is a brilliant young artist and she says the world would sorely miss him. Dr. Ridgeon tell hers he is sorry, but he has his ten patients and cannot add another patient...to do so would mean to actually kick someone else out of the cure group. She begs Dr. Ridgeon to at least meet her husband, so he agrees and invites her and and her husband to join him and his doctor friends at dinner the next night. Mrs.  Dubedat and her husband, Louis show up to dinner and completely charm all the doctors. Louis is indeed very talented, and appears to be a good, genuine human being. Dr. Ridgeon promises Mrs. Debudat that he will indeed cure her husband by squeezing in an eleventh patient. He could hardly refuse since he's fallen in love with her! After the young couple leaves the dinner, however, all of the doctors compare notes and find out that at different times during the evening, Louis has asked each of them for loans for various small amounts using the same reason on each. To top that off...the restaurant maid comes over to the table begging for the address of the young gentleman who just left....he is her husband! And, she has the papers to prove it. The doctors realize that despite his amazing talent, they are dealing with a very unscrupulous young scoundrel. To top the evening off...one of Dr. Ridgeon's colleagues, Dr. Blenkinsop, admits to the group that he's got a touch of the tuberculosis on one lung. He thinks he'll be fine and doesn't at all ask his friend for the cure. He makes his goodbyes and heads home. He's the only one of the doctors who has not had a successful career. He's been relegated to helping working class folks, and he's not very good at that. In other words...he's not considered to be a very good benefit to society. All the other doctors then get into a debate about whether that last spot should go to a good man who doesn't do much for society...or should it still go do the talented artist who is such a jerk.

The doctors converge on the studio of the Dubedat's the next day and confront Louis while Jennifer is in another room. He shows no remorse for his unkempt morals, and even continues to ask for money, knowing very well he won't pay it back. He also admits that he married the restaurant maid, and that it was while he was already married to Jennifer! He says that he found out that the maid was already married, but hadn't seen her husband in three years so she thought that meant they were officially divorced. Knowing that the marriage ceremony would really be invalid, he went through with it to have a fun few days spending all the maid's money. When the money was gone, they both agreed things were over and he went back home to his unsuspecting wife. The doctors are all appalled that he so blatantly flaunts his unsavory character. He argues with them that his talent speaks for itself and he doesn't need to be a good person to deserve to live and share his talent with the world. When Jennifer comes back into the room, Dr. Ridgeon tells her that he cannot take Louis on as a patient, but that B.B. is going to take him on. Jennifer is very disappointed as she really wanted Dr. Ridgeon to be his doctor. She just knows that his cure will work! He tells her that he's sorry, but that he must include his friend the Dr. Blenkinsop in his cure group instead of her husband. He basically knowingly hands Louis over to B.B. hoping that this time he will not be so lucky and Louis will die from the attempted cure! The doctors had all decided before Jennifer came back into the room that they could never tell her the awful things that her husband had done. So, Ridgeon has decided that if Louis dies as a result of B.B.'s incorrect use of the cure, that Mrs. Dubedat will never know of her husband's deceit...and...she'll be free to perhaps love and marry him!

As expected, B.B. uses the vial of medicine incorrectly and Louis dies. On his deathbed, though, he begs Jennifer to not mourn him, but to still put up his one man show and make sure he lives in the eyes of the world through his art. He insists that she be happy and remarry at some point. After Louis dies, Jennifer shakes the hands of all the doctors but Dr. Ridgeon's. She cannot forgive him for not curing her husband. She has no idea that he practically did it on purpose. A few months later Mrs. Dubedat is overseeing the one man art show of her late husband's that is about to open. Dr. Ridgeon comes in to view the work and they run into each other. He admits to her that he hoped Louis would die in the hands of B.B. and that he'd hoped she would want to marry him. She is obviously upset and informs him that she has already remarried. He's shocked at that news...the end.

As usual....the play moves at a fast pace with very intriguing dialogue! I'm glad I read another one of Shaw's greats. I think I might reread one of my favorites now, Heartbreak House...and then move on from George Bernard Shaw for awhile. :-)