The Quality of Mercy based on real events, so things that might otherwise be treated as spoilers are unmarked on this page.
The Quality of Mercy (subtitled Concerning the Life and Crimes of Dr Harold Frederick Shipman) is a one-person play by British writer Edwin Flay.
The play is a docudrama centred around English doctor Harold Frederick ('Fred') Shipman
, who is believed to have killed up to 250 patients. Shipman mostly targeted elderly and seriously ill patients, delivering overdoses of the painkiller morphine.
Set in Fred's cell, the play sees him recording his own version of the truth, initially presenting his crimes as mercy killings. Flashbacks throughout the play present one-sided conversations from his life and career, before his arrest.
As the play progresses, the image of Fred as a merciful doctor delivering euthanasia to the terminally ill is gradually stripped away, revealing a very different man, an egotistical Serial Killer lacking any sympathetic motive.
Playwright Edwin Flay is the grandson of one of Shipman's victims, and Shipman was his childhood doctor. His introduction to the play mentions that when he first started researching Shipman he expected to find a mercy killer — the play completely changed direction once he had the full facts.
A trailer for the original production of the play is available here.
The Quality of Mercy contains examples of the following tropes:
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Fred is insistent that nobody else gets control of his life and death. On that basis, he hangs himself in his cell.
- The Dead Have Names: The names of Fred's victims are projected onto the stage wall, gradually added as the narrative reaches their deaths. Once added to the wall, they remain for the duration of the play. By the end there are 222 different names on the wall.
- Dead Man Writing: Most of the play is Fred's monologue, recorded onto a cassette tape in his cell. He's planning to hang himself, but wants to leave some record behind, to put his side of the story and explain who he really was. In the end, he destroys the recording instead.Fred: I've been thinking a lot lately about the record. About what the world will think of me after I'm gone. A man starts approaching the end of his life, he can't help but dwell a bit on his legacy.
- Delivery Not Desired: Fred spends the play recording an explanation of his life and deeds. At the end, just before his suicide, he destroys the tape.
- Docudrama: The play is based on the life and crimes of a real Serial Killer, English doctor Harold Frederick ('Fred') Shipman. It generally stays very close to the known facts.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Forging the Will:
- Functional Addict:
- The Ghost: Vera Shipman is never seen onstage in the play's flashbacks. She's present, and we hear Fred's half of their conversations, but she's not portrayed by an actor. The same approach is used for everyone else Fred interacts with in flashback.
- Historical Domain Character: Fred, Vera Shipman,
- Inheritance Murder:
- Practical Voiceover: The last scene ends with Fred holding the noose he's created. The light dims, so that the names of his victims are all that's still visible. A final voiceover news report confirms his suicide and reports the political reaction.
- Serial Killer: The protagonist is a real person, serial killer Harold Frederick ('Fred') Shipman. Shipman was an English doctor who's believed to have murdered up to 250 of his patients. The play, largely set in his cell, shows him recording the history of his crimes.
- The Topic of Cancer:
- Villain Protagonist: Although the play initially shows Fred presenting himself as a Well-Intentioned Extremist delivering euthanasia, it swiftly discredits that interpretation. Fred is revealed to be a Serial Killer who believes he's entitled to decide who dies, and he has killed people as an Inheritance Murder scheme and simply for annoying him.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Fred initially presents himself as a caring doctor who simply goes too far. That's deconstructed when the mask slips as the play goes on, especially when he halts the recording and rewinds, recording over one section with less revealing wording.
