DUET
for One is a two hander which focuses on the misfortune of Stephanie Abrahams, a
brilliant concert violinist, whose life fell apart as she was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis leaving her wheelchair bound and unable to continue with her passion.
We are confronted with Stephanie as she tries to face the truth through a
series of visits to psychiatrist Dr Feldman.
With
such a theme and setting, there is little scope of major action, so in what is
bound to be a wordy play, the acting and wordplay are laid bare to the
audience. Belinda Lang and Jonathan Coy certainly lived up to the expectations
of the quality of acting required and are a perfect partnership, delivering a
masterclass of a two hander. The mood swings from Stephanie are delivered to
perfection as she moves from defensiveness, anger, acceptance and self-loathing.
While through the Dr we follow the calmness of the professional to someone who
obviously cares immensely about what happens to Stephanie’s state of mind.
The set
is superbly lavish and certainly shows the Dr’s love of music through the large
collection of music adorning the shelves.
A play
with MS as a main theme is never going to have a happy ending so unsurprisingly
Kempinski ends the play with the audience unsure of what will happen next,
but this is one of those plays where less is more.
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