Three Women and a Piano Tuner

Published Thursday 23 June 2005 at 11:40 by Aleks Sierz

Can we trust our memories of a past traumatic event? And would our lives have been any different if we had made different choices? Helen Cooper’s lyrical play - a hit at last year’s Chichester Festival - examines these questions by looking at a meeting of three estranged sisters, Ella, Beth and Liz, all in their forties.

Ella, who lives with her son, a piano tuner, has composed a piano concerto and to get it publicly performed she enlists the help of Liz, a professional pianist, and Beth, whose husband is immensely rich. As the three sisters collaborate on the project, grim family secrets are gradually unearthed. It soon emerges that nothing at all is as it seems.

Cooper uses a highly imaginative structure that is so much more theatrical than the usual naturalistic fare that it feels like a refreshing shower on a humid day. She has a dark sense of humour that seems as if it is balancing on the edge of an open grave, and her portrait of the three women and their choices is convincing and moving. There is a humanistic warmth and real feeling for the characters that is immensely attractive.

Beautifully directed by Sam West on Ashley Martin-Davis’ evocative set, Three Women and a Piano Tuner is well served by an excellent cast - Jane Gurnett’s wry Ella, Eleanor David’s bitter Liz and, joining the transfer, Phoebe Nicholls as the tension-exuding Beth. Both touching and ingenious, this play leaves you with a mellow understanding of the choices we all make.