By PHK
Last Saturday I saw Tom Kempinski’s “Duet for One” at SolArts, one of Albuquerque, New Mexico’s little theaters.
Actually, “Duet for One” is a drama for two – not one - and the production I saw of it, was riveting. The story is simple and tragic. It is that of a woman named Stephanie Abrahams, a 33 year old concert violinist who has contracted multiple sclerosis at the peak of her career. Her composer husband sends her to psychiatrist Dr. Alfred Feldman to help her come to terms with her loss of meaning in life. The play revolves around Abrahams’ sessions with the German doctor (are all psychiatrists German she confronts him?) who asks the difficult questions that force Abrahams to reveal her innermost feelings and anxieties to herself, the “good doctor” and, of course, the audience.
As drama critic Barry Gaines of The Albuquerque Journal wrote in a rave review that appeared on Tuesday, February 13, “clearly the director and cast make a major difference in the play’s impact and reception. Three of our city’s best theatrical artists provide a riveting evening of theater at Sol Arts. Director Paul Ford has done more than make sure his actors move about the stage and address both portions of the audience. He has elicited complexly shaded and toned performances from Kristen Loree and Ray Orley. They both perform their best work that I have seen.”
I agree. And I saw the same performance.
I have also seen Orley perform in, or direct, a number of plays over the years as far back as 1979-80 when we both served as U.S. Foreign Service Officers in the American Embassy Moscow's Cultural Section as well as Loree and Orley’s performances in “A Piece of My Heart” at SolArts in August 2005. That too was a thought-provoking and well performed play – but “Duet for One” tops it by far.
An enduring theme
This play, perhaps derived from the life of cellist Jacqueline du Pre, is not hot-off-the-press, but its theme endures.
It was written by the actor and playwright Kempinski for his then wife, actress Frances de Tour and it was first performed in London’s West End to critical acclaim in 1980. Its brief run on Broadway as an Americanized version with Ann Bancroft and Max von Sydow was followed later as a movie with a somewhat larger cast including von Sydow but with Julie Andrews and not Bancroft as Stephanie, in 1986.
The questions “Duet for One” ask are profound – they drive to the core of humanity itself: How an individual copes with seemingly and incomprehensible personal physical loss when, in Loree’s words, “what they love and understand about life (is) taken away.” Thus “Duet for One” is as relevant today, as it will be tomorrow and the day after, and as it was when it opened on the British stage almost thirty years ago.
The good doctor and his troubled patient are multi-dimensional and their behavior nuanced. Ford brings all this out and more - including Orley’s thought-provoking control as the psychiatrist during all but the final scene and the fiery emotional ups and downs of Loree.
“Duet for One” provides, as Gaines wrote in his review, “some of the finest acting and directing in town.” Let me add: I’ve seen a lot of theater elsewhere and this performance of “Duet for One” stacks up with the best of them. This is no easy play to perform and the director and his two stars deserve far more recognition than they have thus far received.
The final three performances of “Duet for One” take place on Friday, February 17, 2007 and Saturday, February 18, 2007 at 8 pm and Sunday, February 18 at 2 pm. The performances are at SolArts, 712 Central SE, Albuquerque, NM. $10 general public, $8 seniors and students. Reservations: 505-244-0049.
Photo Credit by Paul Ford. left: Ray Orley as Dr. Feldman; right Kristen Loree as Stephanie.