DUET FOR ONE
OCTAGON THEATRE, BOLTON
Until May 10

A PERSON’S therapy session is not usually a place you would find yourself privy to.

Deep-rooted feelings, secrets, hopes, fears and shattered dreams are put under the microscope for all to see in Duet for One, at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton.

Tom Kempinski’s intense two-hander centres on world famous violinist Stephanie Abrahams, who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) and is confined to a wheelchair, no longer able to play the violin – her life’s purpose, passion and place to escape to.

Through as series of intimate conversations with therapist Dr Alfred Feldmann, the audience goes on a journey as the play asks, how do you go on living when all hope is gone?

Clare Foster, who appeared in ITV’s The Bill and on stage in Merrily We Roll Along, Finding Neverland and Crazy For You, proves herself an extremely versatile actress as the witty and sarcastic Stephanie.

Playing someone struck down with MS, she moves with conviction and her mannerisms convey her character’s personality and anxieties.

With just the two actors on stage and few props, there is nowhere to hide in this stripped back play, which is loosely based on the life of cellist Jacqueline du Pré, whose career was cut short by MS.

The first act, at 65 minutes, mainly features dialogue from Clare with Rob Edwards, who plays the German psychiatrist, asking the probing questions.

In Act II, there is a stirring speech from Dr Feldmann on the purpose of life, as Stephanie struggles to see there is one.

The Octagon Theatre and director Elizabeth Newman are not afraid to put on challenging and thought-provoking plays and Duet for One deals with issues including disability, suicide and depression.

At times, it is even slightly uncomfortable to watch as silence is used to its full effect during the six therapy sessions.

But essentially a play of hope, it is being performed in repertoire with another of Kempinski’s works — Separation — the first time the two plays will have been performed together with the same cast.

Separation begins on Wednesday and both plays run until Saturday, May 10.