A Fortunate Man at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor
In 1967 writer John Berger and photographer Jean Mohr published A Fortunate Man – the story of the working life of a rural GP based in the Forest of Dean. A Fortunate Man went on to become one of the most important books about medical practice.
What Berger and Mohr revealed about the life of a country doctor remains fresh and urgent now as it did fifty years ago. Especially, when we hear daily news about the NHS and try to imagine our future without it.
In this new performance, New Perspectives collaborate with theatre-maker Michael Pinchbeck to explore and expand on this fascinating work, setting it against verbatim interviews with doctors working today. This is a multimedia performance which takes the pulse of a GP’s practice then and now, and aims to continue the conversation in the 70th year of the NHS.
New Perspectives say of their performance, “We want A Fortunate Man to have relevance to an audience now. We want it to be an appropriate tribute to Berger and Mohr’s book and the doctor who inspired it. We want it to bring him to life and applaud his exemplary work. We want to make scenes that have the same rhythm as Berger’s text on the page and the same atmosphere as Mohr’s images. We want the audience to feel like they have read the book when they leave the theatre.”
New Perspectives Theatre Company are also bringing Chigozie Obioma’s debut novel, The Fishermen to HOME Manchester this July in an unmissable new adaptation for stage.
A Fortunate Man is operating a ‘Pay What You Decide’ performance. A voluntary donation is encouraged after the performance as you leave the Lecture Theatre.
