Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923)and Eleanora Duse (1858-1924) are often cited as the greatest theatre actresses of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Otho Eskin’s play Duet imagines a conversation between them.
What’s different here is that Bernhardt has been dead a year, and it is her spirit that appears in Duse’s dressing room on the night she is appearing in La Dame aux Camélias for the final time.
The stage at the Tabard has been sumptuously dressed to represent Duse’s room backstage (Hazel Owen, set and props). Lighting and sound (Carly Altberg and Kristina Kapilin) add humour and atmosphere.
Although Duet is largely a conversation between two performers who were rivals, it also offers a potted history of both – the gaiety and grand gestures of the Divine Sarah, the reserve and realism of La Duse.
Wendy Morgan’s first entrance as Bernhardt is instantly recognisable as the woman seen in photographs and a handful of silent pictures. Alice McNicholas’s costume design for both characters is as contrasting as their personalities.
Cynthia Straus, as Duse, is more enigmatic, quieter, tense. Her gestures are small, her manner guarded. She demands little other than her white roses. Without formal training, Duse’s acting feel natural and intimate.
Nick Waring plays a variety of roles in the lives of both, notably a philandering Prince and an ambitious playwright. His accents in these roles sometimes come across as faintly comical, but he offers strong support throughout.
Morgan’s Bernhardt is the second depiction of the actress seen on the London fringe stage this year, following Sarah Quand Même at Drayton Arms. Her interpretation only hints at a French accent to add colour rather than the full flourishes of the other production.
As Duet progresses, we discover that these two actresses have much in common under the surface, both strong women working in a man’s world, both rising from poverty, both mothers, both betrayed.
At 90 minutes, the play displays little in the way of action or emotional scenes: neither Bernhardt nor Duse are the type to catfight like Sarah Siddons in The Divine Mrs S, also depicted on stage recently.
Ludovica Villar-Hauser first directed Duet in 2003, so she knows the play well and focuses on its humanity and mystery.
It is a ghost story, but not a typical one. It is about one ambitious woman, Duse, approaching her own end, and another, Bernhardt, whose soul seeks peace.
Duet continues at Theatre at the Tabard until 11 May with tickets here.
***.5
Image credit: Ali Wright
A great review, beautifully explained, as we’ve come to expect from Louise Penn. I wish I could see this, but unfortunate won’t be back in time from holiday. Congrats to everyone involved.