IT’S BEEN A SLOW START to the theatre new term: summer runs are being prolonged to save money and new options have been two-star meagre. That has however highlighted the few serious West End productions which have proved durable enough to run into the autumn and Dr Semmelweis at the Harold Pinter Theatre stands out — not least for being the re-telling of a story of Ignaz Semmelweis, a largely forgotten German-Hungarian doctor who systemised antiseptic procedures on maternity wards.
Based on an original idea by Mark Rylance and co-writtenpuzzling over the causes of puerperal fever, rampant killer of so many patients.
