Papers

Doc Chalmers, now aging and in poor health after a serious heart attack, is having a hospital named for him to honour his lifetime of service. But dedication to career and community has come at a price. His wife Bob has ended her own life, as has his mother, and he has been distanced from his children. The play explores these family relationships through a variety of innovative techniques. The central character, Doc's daughter Catherine, appears both as her mid-30's self on a visit home to see her father after his heart attack, and as her childhood self Katie. And Pollock has crafted a complex narrative structure that moves back and forth in time as it explores the ways in which different mental states may produce different versions of the same event.

Doc was first produced in 1984 at Theatre Calgary, and has since been produced widely elsewhere; the play received the Governor General's Award for Drama. This Broadview edition includes a new introduction by the playwright.