UK Theatre Network

If Juliet Stevenson doesn’t win an award for her role in the powerful two-hander Duet For One, then I’ll lose faith in life itself…

… Or I would if I hadn’t listened with baited breath to her sometimes harrowing, sometimes amusing, dialogue with Henry Goodman in Tom Kempinski’s play which is, deservedly, winner of two awards.

For although Duet For One charts an intensely emotional journey as violinist Stephanie Abrahams is forced to face a future without music after contracting multiple sclerosis, it immerses us in life itself and, as her psychiatrist Dr Feldmann points out, the tree of life has more than one apple on it.

Whether this was written before the severe agoraphobia he suffered for years, I don’t know, but Kempinski writes with so much feeling and insight, while Stevenson gives a heart-stopping performance as a woman whose memories, plans, thoughts and fears come tumbling out in an at times explosive tirade of poignant prose before a psychiatrist whose seeming indifference is the catalyst. It’s a true tour de force as she also expertly negotiates a motorised wheelchair and moves with the constraints of someone whose body is becoming increasingly dysfunctional.

Dr Feldmann is skilfully played by Henry Goodman whose restraint, reserve and calm is a complete contrast to the woman’s out-pourings and sarcasm. And while Stevenson outwardly has to give so much of herself, Goodman’s role, with its long silences and stillnesses, together with unexpected comic moments, is equally impressive.

Duet for One is all about learning the purpose of life and how to live it. And as Feldmann says: “It’s a journey Miss Abrahams. We are making it together.”

What a privilege it is to have shared that journey with two such accomplished actors.

Duet For One ends a short tour, which has included Bath and Windsor, at Richmond until April 4 before a well-deserved return to London’s West End in May.