A Doctor’s Visit Review: The Cost of Staying Silent
Amara (Mars) Johnson as Woman, J. Bailey Parks as Joy, and Beau Paul as Dr. Harris in A Doctor’s Visit. (L - R)
How do you know when a sexual assault has taken place? If you saw one, would you recognise it? Would you do something? Say something? Or keep your eyes down and try your best to convince yourself it was all in your head. He didn’t cross any lines–he wouldn’t. Surely if something had happened, you would know. It would be obvious. Right? Broad Theatre’s latest play, A Doctor’s Visit, explores these questions and more as we follow nurse Joy (played by J. Bailey Parks), a single mother, juggling her “troubled” daughter and an unassuming workplace with one very concerning secret.
I had the absolute pleasure of seeing A Doctor’s Visit on its closing night earlier this week, and I can confidently say this is a play that will stick with me for years to come.
The tone was set well before the curtain opened. As soon as I stepped foot inside Broad Theatre, I was given a paper with a QR code linking to a “patient portal” that included sources to a curated list of relevant reading available through the Austin Public Library, background information on the case that inspired A Doctor’s Visit, and community resources. On top of that, I also received a stress ball shaped like a boob courtesy of the Austin Mother’s Milk Bank, which supplies breast milk to babies in need. As I took in my new resources, I was primed and prepped for A Doctor’s Visit.
This play isn’t a reenactment of sexual assault, but an exploration into how society often turns a blind eye to it. It shines the mirror back at the audience and compels us to ask ourselves the tough questions above, putting us in the position of Joy. What would we have done had we been in her place? And then it forces us to sit in the uncomfortable reality that, for most, we would simply do nothing.
For all the weight these topics carry, playwright Anikka Lekven and director Molly Fonseca do a fantastic job of balancing the seriousness of the play with tasteful humor. Humanising these characters through silly moments in a break room or fun scenes between Joy and her daughter Nina (played by Ionie Olivia Nieves), two actors whose chemistry convinced me they were truly related. These glimpses of levity make what could have been a harrowing portrayal actually enjoyable.
A breakroom scene between Jennifer Jennings as Natalie, Shelby Sudam as Hayley, and Joy (L - R).
What blew me away the most was the set design and how much of the story it conveyed. On paper, it’s simple; a doctor’s room. However, the deeper you go into the story, the more significant this becomes. A sexual assault takes place in that doctor's room, and as we see Joy, an unknowing witness to it, travel from the break room to her daughter's school to her home, that set never really changes. She never leaves that doctor's office, as that sick feeling that she saw something and did nothing haunts her throughout the play.
Every aspect of A Doctor’s Visit, the set design, the lighting, the simple but effective costumes, silly props, and the impeccable actors all worked in tandem to create this impactful narrative. One that left me reeling by the end. Throughout the play, there are many tough pills to swallow. The worst by far is just how much easier it is for everyone involved to ignore sexual assault.
How can we as a society change this outcome?
A Doctor’s Visit does a fantastic job of asking the questions and, in doing so, asking audience members to do better. To be that change. To speak out and say something, or forever be haunted by the notion that you didn’t.
Courtesy of Broad Theatre
