Duet for One features the fine hand of director Malcolm Purkey, known better for theatre dealing with the political than with the personal. He spoke to Coenraad Visser
OVER a glass of mineral water (pure, not flavoured), Malcolm Purkey talks about directing Tom Kempinski’s award-winning play Duet for One, opening next week at the Market Theatre.
He is amused at not being asked why he is doing a play that is not political. He would have countered: “But what is political”? In this context Duet is important, though: he is relieved at now being able to do more than protest, or political, theatre. One of the most important voices in “relevant” theatre, “now,” he says, “we are free to do Shakespeare again”.
Duet for One marks Purkey’s return to the stage after a year of studying screenwriting at the British National Film and Television School, courtesy of the British Council. He is excited about the “new” medium, and cannot wait to lay his hands on a decent script — and sufficient funding.
He bemoans the current crisis in the local film industry, pondering whether our television industry will ever develop to approach what he has seen in Britain. At least, he says, the acting in MMG Engineers is less stage-like and more believable than in earlier productions.
For the first time, Purkey — Wits University drama lecturer and a founder of the Junction Avenue Theatre Company, best- known for productions like Sophiatown — has the relative luxury of being involved as director only. In previous productions he had to look after so many aspects, but this time his longtime collaborator Mannie Manim takes care of the production side.
His experience at film school comes in handy with Duet. It is a static play: one character in a wheelchair, the other her psychiatrist. So the grand gestures and expansive movement normally associated with theatre are ruled out. Instead, the stage vocabulary for Duet is the more economic and compact one of the screen.
It helps to have experienced actors, Lesley Nott and John Kani, to work with. Nott returns to the stage after seven years, and Purkey sees evidence of her pent-up energy.
He loves Kempinsky’s play, not least because it appeals to his interest in psychoanalysis. Also, he finds Duet a carefully crafted play, each word chosen for effect. The more one works on it, the more it reveals. Although Purkey is not wedded to the written text, he believes that one should respect it. He deplores the fact that so many actors and directors approach a text anticipating changing it, usually to make it more “accessible” (read “easier”).
This process, of rolling revelations, resembles Duet. The play portrays Stephanie Abrahams, a 33-year old violinist whose performing career has been cut short by multiple sclerosis, in session with her psychiatrist, Dr Alfred Feldmann. As the sessions progress, layer after layer of protective pretence are stripped from her.
Rumour has it that Duet was inspired by the real-life tragedy that befell cellist Jacqueline du Pre. The only obvious changes are of instrument (cello to violin) and of the husband’s profession: in the play he is a composer, while Du Pre’s husband was pianist-conductor Daniel Barenboim.
But much of it rings true, even details of Abrahams’ Jewish family life. Du Pre converted to Judaism and married Barenboim in an Orthodox ceremony, complete with ritual mikvah (the purifying bath for the bride), immediately after the Israeli Six-Day War of June 1967.
The word “challenge” features often in conversation with Purkey. He relishes his encounters with his students who refuse to take the conventional for granted. He cannot wait to embark on his new passion, a career in film. And then there still is the fight for the survival of the performing arts, for funds to continue with his work.
What does he find most attractive about Duet? “Honesty,” he says. One might make the same answer when asked to describe Purkey and his work.
* Duet for One opens at the Market on July 26 and runs until August 27.