About the work
Jules Romains wrote this three-act comedy about a country doctor who systematically convinces a healthy village that it is sick; it premiered on 14 December 1923 at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées in Paris, staged by and starring Louis Jouvet in the title role.
Plot
Doctor Knock takes over the rural practice of his predecessor Parpalaid in the village of Saint-Maurice, where hardly anyone had needed a doctor before. Through free consultations, calculated scare tactics and a specially hired pharmacist and schoolteacher, he convinces almost the entire village within weeks that it is incurably ill. By the end even Parpalaid, who returns for a visit, has become one of Knock’s patients.
Cultural significance
Jouvet is said to have played the title role more than 1,500 times, making “Knock” his greatest stage success; the line “Healthy people are just patients who don’t know it” became a catchphrase in French. The play is considered the high point of French medical satire in the tradition of Molière.