Pat Sloane wrote:
> Interesting article. But Zolotow doesn't distinguish between a
> psychoanalyst and a psychiatrist, and uses the words interchangeably.
Zolotow might be confused about Reilly's profession but he quotes
Guiness who has a better understanding of the role. Guiness **pretty
much** said that the profession was intended to be ambiguous (although
there is enough wiggle room in his comments to read that, while Eliot
never indicated in the play nor spoke to Guiness about it, he (TSE)
might have one of either psychologist, psychoanalyst or a psychiatrist
in mind.)
Zolotow:
Is Dr. Reilly really intended to be a psychiatrist? The critics
and most spectators take him for that. Guinness says that in his
opinion this is an absolute misunderstanding of his role. In
preparing it, he didn't talk to any professional psychiatrists in
England, or to any person who'd been analyzed. He says neither the
rod "psychiatry" nor "psychoanalysis" is ever explicitly mentioned
anywhere in the script, including the stage directions. Reilly is
called a doctor, he does have a consulting room, his secretary is
described as a nurse, but Guinness takes him to be a "mental and
spiritual adviser and guide, in a definitely religious sense."
Later:
"At no time," Guinness revealed, "was it suggested by
anybody--Eliot or Martin Browne, the director--that Reilly is a
medical psychiatrist.
Regards,
Rick Parker
