Written by Clara Miller
Photos by Kara Wilson and Pablo Portilla del Valle
Forceps, birthing stools, clysters, blood bowls and leeches –all common medical instruments used in 1820– and all major players in the historic Davenport House’s latest evening program: “Yellow Fever.” “Yellow Fever” is one part theater, two parts history lesson and completely interactive. The performers dive into the mindset of these fictional characters experiencing this epidemic.
“You have to really learn a lot about it to be able to play the character,” said Allison Maher.
Maher played Dr. Lavinder, one of the midwives that relied on traditional healing techniques such as draining blood to purge the patients.
The audience plays a key part in the performance. They too become secondary characters, creating a dialogue with the actors.
“I like to do more improv,” said Maher, “sometimes, they just kinda sit there and they just want to listen, which is fine, but sometimes they’re a little more interactive, which I think is really fun.”
The midwife calls the patient to the front. She takes a bloodied rag and ties it tight on his upper arm. “I’m sorry, we don’t have any clean rags left, it’s been a busy day,” she says smiling. The vein in his forearm pops, visible and pulsating. She takes a knife and slices the skin carefully. The blood drains out into a splattered bowl below. “You’ll be fine in no time! Remember to do this every day for a few weeks.” This is what is known as bloodletting, a common purging technique used by midwives to heal their patients.
Taken from the carriage house to the attic, “Yellow Fever” follows nine characters’ struggles with the virus through the rooms of the Davenport house museum. They provide a glimpse to the lives of all kinds people: rich, poor, oppressed and enslaved. It tackles the repercussions of the Malaria epidemic of 1820.
“Drugs! Drugs. Doctors could give them things that relieved the pain and that was kinda the sway,” said Yellow Fever co-creator Raleigh Marcell, explaining the difference between midwives and doctors.
One of the conflicts in “Yellow Fever” is between the fading strength of midwives (who practice medicine beyond the birthing room) and the rising legion of doctors who offered something midwives did not: medicine and “scientific” proof.
Marcell explains how back then forceps were considered a safer way to deliver children. “It probably wasn’t,” said Marcell, but (doctors) did a good job convincing ladies that this was safer.”
“(Many people) relied heavily (on herbal remedies) – that was the lifestyle of many people, especially Africans, poorer Caucasians, and Native Americans.” These remedies were easier to make and more readily available,” said Dr. Jamal Toure, co-creator of “Yellow Fever,”
But Marcell claims epidemics were as confusing then as they are now; there’s a political, social, cultural and even medical aspects to deal with. The Davenport house tries to illuminate these issues through performance, but it’s a “humongous” task to take, one that has taken them more than thirteen years to piece together, and “Yellow Fever” is just a small part of the whole.
The Davenport house hosts special performances every season. For more information, please visit their website.
