Duet for One at Orange Tree Theatre

Orange Tree Theatre is a modest bus journey away (even when they are on diversion) so I have to have a pretty good reason not to go there and that means I see almost everything. Booking is a routine thing and so I grabbed my seat for Duet for One, A22 in my usual area, for £26.

The diverted bus got me there in good time and I was able to get a beer in the bar beforehand to soothe my worrying cough. I was attracted by the familiar Adnams Ghost Ship brand and it was only after I had paid for it did I realise that it was a low alcohol beer at 0.5%. The beer did its job as a throat lubricant but I felt robbed of the alcohol.

 

The premise of Duet for One is simple enough, a top-flight violinist contracts MS and the impact of this on her leads her to seek the help of a psychiatrist, the play is their conversations over a number of weeks.

That sounds a bit dry and in a way it is, these conversations and measured (one os a professional after all) and cover the fairly predictable areas of the violinist's relationships with her parents and her husband.

There was a lot of depth to some of those conversations, depending on the mood of the violinist at that time, so there was quite a lot of interest but there was also a lack of progression, the play had a beginning but not much in the way of a middle or an ending.

I was also put off somewhat by the obvious comparison to Jacqueline Mary du Pré and Daniel Barenboim. There are significant differences, e.g. du Pré played the cello, but there are too many similarities for this to be a coincidence. I wish that it had been the du Pré story or, if something different then something very different.

From the previous comments you can tell that this was not really my cup of tea but there was plenty going in for me to enjoy and it was a positive experience.

The icing on the cake for me was being able to say a (very) few words afterwards to Robert Lindsay, who had been at the show.