The Stage

Duet for One

Published Wednesday 4 February 2009 at 12:15 by Heather Neill

Revived almost 30 years after its first success at the Bush and in the West End, this sparkling two-hander seems scarcely dated at all. No doubt there have been tweaks to the dialogue - CDs and laptops were not current in 1980 - but the central encounter is timeless.

Stephanie Abrahams, a celebrated concert violinist, has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She will never play again. At the suggestion of her composer husband, she seeks help for her understandably “low” moods from music-loving psychiatrist Dr Feldmann. During six sessions, they develop a combative, often sharply funny, relationship while mining the truths of her present situation and her experience as a single-minded child-musician.

To begin with Feldmann is professional, self-contained, smug even, while wheelchair-bound Stephanie is defensively sarcastic - a knowing patient, she prefers to play knockabout emotional games rather than accept his authority. But eventually, the barriers down, she explodes in a mixture of fury and terror and Feldmann attempts to help her to re-evaluate her life. Her loss may be great - as it was for Jacqueline du Pre, whose story inspired the play - but the struggle to find meaning in existence is common to all. A passionate battle of wills, which happens to be expressed in terms of doctor and patient, this is the essence of drama.

Juliet Stevenson, fearless in playing up and down the emotional scale, and Henry Goodman, complete with Freudian accent, provide a perfect pairing in Matthew Lloyd’s finely tuned production. Lez Brotherston’s detailed study set and a background of exquisite violin music add to the pleasures of the evening. A duet for everyone.