Duet for One

Okay, it's been a long while since I've posted, so I'm going to throw up a whole bunch of short posts in a row again.

Duet for One transferred from the Almeida to the West End and centers around a professional violinist who has come down with Multiple Sclerosis and thus had to give up her playing career. The play takes place in her therapist's apartment and is made up entirely of their interactions together.

So if you know me, you might think, "Hey, Kevin used to play the violin, and he likes music, he should really enjoy this very interesting music-centric play." That's what I thought too. Now I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it at all, as it wasn't bad, but let's lay this out a little. It's a two person play, in a relatively large West End venue. One character's in a wheelchair, and one's in a therapist chair. And it's nearly 3 hours long. COME ON. Call me an uncultured schmuck, but if you can get through this one without falling asleep, or at least checking your watch every fifteen minutes after the first hour and a half, then you are a better person than I. I mean come on, it's set up to be a perfect 1:30, no intermission, gripping little drama in an intimate venue. I mean, since the play's all about character development, it does require some time... but really? It's two people in a therapy session. You don't need three hours. Just tell us the damn answer already.

To be fair, the performances are solid, and the premise is pretty interesting. Also, you can sleep through large chunks of it and still be pretty confident about what's going on. But as drawn is as you may be in the beginning, you are still watching two people on a static set talking, back and forth, for nearly three hours. Eventually they do start screaming, and things get heated, and if I hadn't just been sitting there for two and a half hours, I probably would have gotten more into it. It's not a bad play; it just really lacks self-awareness by thinking it's supposed to be a long play when it really shouldn't. So if you're into that sort of thing. Go for it.