Tara Fitzgerald and Maureen Beattie will star in Duet For One at the Orange Tree Theatre in London.
Richard Beecham directs this new adaptation of Tom Kempinski’s 1980 drama which will also feature live music. The production opens on 16 February, with previews from 11 February, and runs until 18 March 2023.
Tara Fitzgerald makes her OT debut playing Stephanie Abrahams, a world-renowned concert violinist who is forced to look for a new way to live following life-changing news. Fitzgerald is known for Brassed Off, Game of Thrones, Waking The Dead andThe Woman in White. Her numerous stage roles include the classics: Antigone (The Old Vic/UK tour), Hamlet (Young Vic/Almeida/Belasco Theatre, New York – New York Drama Desk Award), Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale, Women Beware Women (Shakespeare’s Globe), Shipwreck (Almeida Theatre), Broken Glass (Vaudeville Theatre) and A Doll’s House(Donmar Warehouse).
Maureen Beattie will play Abrahams psychiatrist Dr Feldmann. She has recently finished playing Mrs Pearce in My Fair Lady at the London Coliseum after playing Helen in The Scent of Roses at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. Her other theatre credits include Yerma (Young Vic), Nuclear War (Royal Court) and The Ferryman (Gielgud Theatre). Her television credits include: Our House, Deadwater Fell, Outlander and Doctor Who. Beattie was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to the entertainment industry.
Tom Kempinski’s moving and hopeful story has triumphed in the West End and on Broadway, later turned into a feature film starring Julie Andrews and Alan Bates. Duet For One runs in place of Grim Brenda which will be staged at later date, with full details to be confirmed.
OT Artistic Director Tom Littler said: “Duet for One is one of the great plays about music, but its resonance goes much wider. I’m delighted we’re producing Tom Kempinski’s beautiful chamber play. Tara Fitzgerald and Maureen Beattie are a dream cast, and Richard Beecham’s production will reinvent Duet for One for a new generation. We look forward to staging Grim Brenda in the future.”
The Orange Tree Theatre’s current season includes: Arms and the Man (until 14 Jan 2023) by Bernard Shaw; the return of Sonali Bhattacharyya’s play Two Billion Beats (20 Jan – 4 Feb 2023); You Bury Me (27 March – 22 April 2023); Somerset Maugham’s comedy The Circle (29 April – 17 June 2023); and the world premiere of Isley Lynn’s The Swell (24 June – 29 July 2023). The Spring season also includes the OT Community’s successful Primary Shakespeare project, producing As You Like It (May-June).
