By Marilyn Jozwik
Next Act Theatre’s “Dinner with the Duchess” is a powerful glimpse at the complex life of an artist. In this case it is a world-famous female concert violinist named Margaret. And how her legacy can be shaped by one story. Samantha Martinson directs.
As with so many Next Act shows, the characters and ideas stay with you long after the performance. Laura Gordon plays Margaret and is absolutely mesmerizing. She takes Nick Green’s script and crawls into the skin of Margaret, describing and living a life of profound happiness with an equal amount of sadness.
Green sets the table nicely to present a picture of an elite classical musician navigating the pitfalls of a male-dominated world.
The show opens in Margaret’s modern, spacious and glimmering condo. There are double doors leading out to a bright balcony where Margaret goes to smoke. It is a gorgeous set and Next Act audiences are easily brought into the scene
Soon Helen (Mai Abe) arrives, a reporter doing a story on Margaret as she begins her retirement. In a short time, Margaret’s husband David (Andrew May) comes in with a bag of groceries for the Italian dinner he’s making.
“This is the last the public hears from me,” Margaret tells Helen.
Margaret (Laura Gordon) agonizes over her complicated life as a concert mast in a scene from Next Act Theatre’s “Dinner With the Duchess.”
Margaret is quite concerned about her image, determined to not come across as “a cold, icy b----” as the press has portrayed her.
Margaret wants to show a soft, gentle, human side. She offers Helen a glass of wine, which the latter refuses. Helen remains stoic during Margaret’s attempts at humor (“I’m just being playful,” Margaret tells her) and doesn’t touch the bowl of food set before her. Helen doesn’t bite – literally – at Margaret’s peace offering.
The interview goes fairly well until Helen touches a nerve. Why is Margaret called Duchess? And then another nerve. Helen begins to uncover the truth behind the rumors and the legend.
Margaret tries to deflect the spotlight by focusing on her predecessors.
“The world of classical music has always been difficult for women.” Indeed, data show that female concertmasters are rare.
Helen (Mai Abe), a reporter, has to ask some questions of Margaret and also must weigh her responsibilities as a journalist, and a human being.
What really seems to excite Margaret is when she talks about the women who have come before her and the struggles they faced, women like Maud Powell, the first American violinist to achieve international rank. Powell made recordings in the early 1900 and set a standard for violin performance.
“I picture those women holding a light” with those to follow “breaking pieces off.”
“How have you passed on your light?” Helen wants to know. Margaret’s response is simple: “By my performance.”
When Gordon talks about Margaret’s own struggles with an abusive conductor, with a once passionate relationship turning sour and losing the muse, her words become like music with a rhythm and passion in themselves. She moves almost in a dance around the room, moving to the beat her life has become.
Abe’s Helen remains unflappable as Margaret begins to challenge her questioning. She is totally comfortable even as Margaret becomes more difficult, sitting cross-legged on her chair. She continues the questions until Margaret rails, “Please don’t burn my life down to the ground.”
But the questions keep coming and Margaret pleads, “Why are you trying to destroy me?” Helen has that power. And the question is, will she use it?
These are three marvelous performances and Green’s powerful script makes this a spell-binding 75-minutes of theater. As Margaret and David, Gordon and May’s light-hearted banter makes everyone comfortable at the onset. It seems like a delightful evening is about to ensue. Until Helen begins to uncover uncomfortable truths. Like layers of an onion, the interview peels away Margaret’s life until there is only one thing left: the question of accountability.
And for the audience, a lot to consider.
If you go:
Who: Next Act Theatre
What: “Dinner With the Duchess”
When: Through May 17
Where: 255 S. Water St., Milwaukee
Info/Tickets: info@nextact.org/414-278-0765