H umanities

CMAJ

E ssa y

Drama in medicine r. Charles Hayter says there is nothing “radical” about his decision, back in the 1970s, to switch his primary career from drama to medicine. Actually, the two fields are remarkably similar, says the radia­ tion oncologist at Credit Valley Hospi­ tal in M ississauga, Ont. Now, four decades later, Hayter has found a com­ promise that allows him to be both a physician and a playwright. “The practice of medicine is quite theatrical,” says Hayter. “We have our own language. We have our own style of dealing with people. We wear a par­ ticular uniform or costume.” There is one important difference, however, between Hayter’s two careers: money. He would love to write plays full-time, but the financial rewards are meagre, so he continues to work three days a week as a radiation oncologist to support his play-writing habit. Although Hayter shuns the adjec­ tive “radical” to describe his dual career track, he does attach the word to the late Toronto oncologist, Vera Peters, who championed the thenheretical view that lum pectom ies, combined with radiation, could be just as successful in treating breast cancer as the more disfiguring mastectomies that were commonly performed in the 1970s. Peters also challenged the pre­ vailing attitude that the physician, not the patient, should decide which treat­ ment option to follow. Her theories were not widely accepted until the 1980s. So radical was Peters that Hayter titled the play he wrote about her, Radi­ cal. It premieres July 4, 2014, at the Toronto Fringe Festival and runs inter­ mittently until July 13. Hayter was attracted to Peters’ story because she is such an icon among radiation oncologists and her life was full of the essential ingredient for any good play: conflict — in this case, with

D

938

R o se L e v in e (p la y e d b y S h e ila R ussell) h as b r e a s t c a n c e r, a n d h e r s u rg e o n s h a v e r e c o m ­ m e n d e d a m a s te c to m y . H e re , R ose s e ek s a s e c o n d o p in io n f r o m D r. V e r a P e te rs (p la y e d b y J a n e S m y th e ). P e te rs a g re e s t h a t a m a s te c to m y is t h e b e s t c h o ic e a n d s u g g e s ts t h a t R ose w e a r a b r e a s t p ro s th e s is . R ose d is d a in f u lly re je c ts th is id e a .

her mainly male peers who favoured radical mastectomies. The plot of Radical sticks mostly to the historical record, but Hayter has con­ densed events and taken some dramatic licence to reach the heart of the story. “As Farley Mowat said: ‘Never let the facts get in the way of the truth.’ ” And, to be true to the historical record, many of the characters in Radi­ cal, including Peters, “smoke” their way through the play. Lung cancer claimed Peters’ life in 1993 at age 82. “My work as an oncologist had a huge impact on Radical,” says Hayter. “I confront the issues described in the play around medical decision-making and the patient’s role in decision-making on a daily basis.” Fringe perform ances m ust not exceed an hour, so Hayter has abbrevi­ ated his original script. He hopes some day to mount the longer version of the play. M any m odest p roductions launched at fringe festivals have even­ tually graduated to bigger and better

CMAJ, S e p te m b e r 2, 2014, 186(12)

things. The 1999 Toronto Fringe pro­ duction of The Drowsy Chaperone evolved into a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical a few years later. In the case of Radical, Hayter is thinking more of Hollywood than Broadway. He wants to write a screenplay for an eventual movie. “Most of the stuff I’ve written so far is based on medical history or medical themes, so I think my medical practice feeds into my writing,” says Hayter. One much performed play written by Hayter is Lady in Waiting, about a doc­ tor who is a drag queen. “Funny and fruitful,” declared the Winnipeg Free Press in 2006. Another play, Eldorado Town — the Port Hope Play, which examined the benefits and harms of radium and uranium, was praised by The Globe and Mail in 2010 for its “interesting story” and “clever songs.” Humour is an integral part of every Hayter play. In Radical, the laughs come from the fictional character Rose, “a brassy, feisty feminist of the

2014 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors

H

1970s.” Rose is a foil to Vera, who is “always ladylike” and not a conven­ tional feminist despite her efforts to empower female patients with cancer. Hayter was born in England but later immigrated to Canada with his family. His grandfather and father were both physicians; his mother, a nurse. Initially, Hayter pursued his love of theatre, earning a master’s degree in drama at the University of Calgary. He was contemplating a career as a theatre academic when medicine beckoned. “Medicine was always in the back­ ground and what I intended to do.” The

actual switch in career paths came after a couple of life-changing events. “Certainly a major [event] was my conversation with the Queen’s [Uni­ versity] medical admissions officer, Dr. Dawson Einarson, who was enthu­ siastic about someone with an arts b ac k g ro u n d e n te rin g m ed icin e. Another was being witness to the birth of my daughter Rosalind and the won­ der at the complexity of it all.” As a m edical student, H ayter decided to specialize in radiation oncol­ ogy after working at a cancer centre and being impressed by the staff.

u m a n it ie s

“They were kind, compassionate people and I was just kind of naturally drawn to them. I thought this was something I would love to do.” Hayter went on to discover that choosing medicine did not have to mean abandoning drama. “The practice of medicine is theatrical,” he says again. “I’ve always felt that, from the time I first started working as a doctor.” Paul Gessell

Art critic Ottawa, Ont. C M AJ 2014. DOI: tO. 1503/cmaj.140812

Poetry

S hiftin g intim acies A fte r all these years, I'm show ering w ith my w ife again. The w ashing aw ay o f sweat and sleep. Every m orning cleansing her body. The ru n n in g o f w a te r and su n lig h t in th e room . The pain in her back gre w and th e d o cto r said "It's ju st a rth ritis ." She coughed and an x-ray showed th e w h ite , w h ite spots. A nd th e n th e y all knew. Her spine cracked and th e y all knew th e re was n o th in g b u t w a itin g and loving and pain and goodbyes. The heat o f breath released in n ig h t air. A fte r all these years, th e shower p o u n d in g rhythm ically against tw o bodies again. M a r ie O 'C o n n o r BSc M A

Second-year medical student D epartm ent o f M edicine University o f British Colum bia Vancouver, BC C M AJ 2014. DOI:10.1503/cmaj.131699

© 2 0 1 4 C a n a d ia n M e d ic a l A s s o c ia t io n o r it s lic e n s o r s

CMAJ, Septem ber 2, 2014, 186(12)

939

Copyright of CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal is the property of Canadian Medical Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Drama in medicine.

Drama in medicine. - PDF Download Free
2MB Sizes 2 Downloads 4 Views