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Belinda Lang as Stephanie and Oliver Cotton as Dr Feldman. Pictures: Robert Day Duet for One
Birmingham Rep
**** Multiple sclerosis doesn’t do happy
endings. In bland, unemotional medical terms it is a neurological
condition; in human terms it promises little but a future of desolation
and despair. For a musician regarded as one of the best of her
generation, no longer able to perform, or even play, the condition must
feel like a constant bereavement. Tom Kempinski’s play leads us into some of the
mind’s darker corners as once celebrated, now wheelchair dependant
violinist Stephanie Abrahams visits psychiatrist Dr Feldman. We see flashes of anger, of scorn, attempts to
shock or insult, tears, despair, every emotion raw and exposed, as she
struggles her way through six sessions, each more depressing to watch
than the last until finally Kempinski’s good doctor manages to give his
patient, and perhaps his audience, what is needed
– hope. I had a friend, now dead, who had had MS since
his 20s, with each attack taking a little bit more of him away. How
people cope with first the diagnosis and then the condition is beyond
imagination, yet cope they do.
And Duet for One puts that process into words.
Belinda Lang is quite superb as Stephanie, the headstrong, confident and
very frightened violinist. In her six sessions we see virtually six
characters from self-assured and sophisticated to, let’s not beat about
the bush here, foul-mouthed and slutty. This is a woman in turmoil who, despite the
various masks she tries to hide behind, is struggling to cope,
struggling to come to terms with her condition. Stephanie cannot see the point of visiting a
psychiatrist but husband David, a famous composer, feels it is a good
idea, so that is the only reason why she is there, which she tells the
doctor quite regularly among her rants and long, involved tales of her
past. Lang imbues her part with such an impressive variety of moods and
emotions that Stephanie becomes a real person, someone we know, and care
about, long before the end. Oliver Cotton has a much more difficult job,
being almost a silent partner in this two-hander. Psychiatrists don’t
talk, they listen, and apart from one explosive episode when he lays
down the law, they show no emotion. So, he is left with the task of
creating a character, of making us believe in his Dr Feldman, with
little more than his silences to play with. That he achieves it says
much for his part in two powerful performances that are equally
difficult in their contrasting ways. One prattling on, uneasy with silence, needing to
fill the void with words, the other watching and waiting for the uneasy
quiet to be broken or, in an apparently dismissive manner, asking a
question to change direction and subject, disregarding all Stephanie has
just said.
Yet this psychological fencing match is not
without its humour, albeit on the blacker side of comedy, and it even
has its laugh out loud moments, but beneath it all is a very human tale
about the capacity to cope or even come to terms with adversity. The situation has echoes with Jacqueline du Pré,
world renowned cellist married to equally famous conductor and pianist
Daniel Barenboim, who was diagnosed with MS and forced to stop
performing aged 27 – dying when she was 42. But, if the situation might have been the
inspiration, as Kempinski points out in the programme notes, this is not
a play based on her life, but rather on his own, or at least his
repression of feelings after a series of traumatic incidents. Whatever the background the result is a play
which is at times moving and emotional, at times funny and always very
human, it is writing which gives actors a chance to shine, and shine
they do quite beautifully in this glorious piece of theatre. The setting by Matthew Bourne’s long-time
collaborator Lez Brotherston is all you would expect from a successful,
established psychiatrist’s consulting room, traditional, comfortable,
not at all flashy or modern, complete with solid old fashioned Victorian
radiators and a rear wall given over to books, and CDs, perhaps to
emphasise a shared love of music. Ian Scott’s lighting is also worth a mention with
a glorious sunlight pouring through a large window at the side of the
stage while Tracey Dolby does a fine job as dresser as Stephanie changes
complete costumes in seconds between sessions helping to keep up the
natural pace of the piece. It might be uncomfortable at times but is always
absorbing to watch. Well directed by Robin Lefevre, Duet for One runs to
07-10-17 Roger Clarke 26-09-17 |
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