Opus
Reviewed by Brad Hathaway / Potomac Stages
Running time 1:35 - no intermission
* A Potomac Stages Pick for enormous intelligence in exploring the art of collaborative making music

(Photo: C. Stanley Photography)

The essence of Michael Hollinger's play, which just last month received one of the two $7,500 awards in the American Theatre Critics Association's Steinberg New Play Award program, is an examination of collegial creation. When the objective is artistic expression, how do multiple individuals reach a consensus on every aspect of a performance? The play offers a number of definitions of a string quartet. Some are simple dictionary definitions ("a group of four musicians") and some are frivolous attempts at humor. One really captures the essence of the sound any quartet seeks: "Four instruments played by a single bow." This at least is the goal of the members of the fictitious "Lazzara Quartet" (An in joke? The script has the group named for the historic instruments they play, but there is a Jamie Lazzara currently making soloist-quality violins in Italy.) The actors who perform as the musicians in the quartet have something of the same task as their characters. While they explore the magic of collegial creation of the musical type, they have to accomplish a collegial performance of the dramatic type. The cast at the Washington Stage Guild accomplishes this admirably. The result is a captivating, engrossing evening of intellectual pleasures.

Storyline: Three members of a successful string quartet have dismissed the other member of the group and are auditioning candidates for the post. Simultaneously, they are preparing for a performance at the White House which will be telecast to the largest audience they have ever reached. They find a replacement and select Beethoven's String Quartet No.14, Opus 131, one of the most challenging masterpieces in the cannon of chamber music. As they rehearse for the performance, the characters of the five - the three continuing members of the quartet plus the replacement and the replaced - are tested by professional and artistic stresses.

Mr. Hollinger is a classically trained violist who traded music making for playwriting. This is his third play mounted here at the Stage Guild, all three have been directed by Steven Carpenter and all three have been designated a Potomac Stages pick. Two years ago it was the irresistibly funny Incorruptible. Last year it was the equally off-beat comedy An Empty Plate in the Cafe du Grand Boeuf. This year's script, although not devoid of humor, pursues a much more serious theme. Indeed, it is the sharp exchange of barbs and the occasional ironic aside that gives this examination of serious subjects such vigor, vitality and a sense of personal truth. These are intelligent, determined people dealing with issues that are of supreme importance to them. Sometimes they express their points through humor but more often through honest and impassioned argument. Not only do they face major artistic and professional challenges, each faces a personal crisis. It is a tribute to Mr. Hollinger's skill at play structuring that these crises seem the natural state of affairs for five mature, successful artists and not mere convenience for the playwright. In the process, he gives us some very rare insight into the process of artistic creation. Anyone who has ever marveled at the unity a group can achieve in the performance of a complex work will find incidents, comments and revelations that resonate beautifully in this work. Hollinger avoids any hint of a lecture on musical appreciation. However, he does make a small slip when he has one musician praise the acoustics of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam saying "play a chord there and it goes on forever." Such a long delay time might help a symphony orchestra, but would pose a frustrating problem for the precise interchanges of a string quartet.

The cast here is superb, each establishing and then developing a distinct personality, and each reacting to the others in a complex, multi-layered display of dramatic styles. Kryztov Lindquist is the lead violinist who is a bit of a bundle of exposed nerves while R. Scott Williams is smoother and particularly good at the ironic humor he displays as the dismissed violinist who shares more than a professional history with him. Carl Randolph adds a touch of world-wise weariness to the violinist whose divorce is a result of his yielding to the temptations of the one-night stops on lengthy world tours, while Ritchie Porter slowly emerges as a major factor in the mix. Kathleen Coons is captivating in her progression from the outsider brought into the group, a beginner with a slim resume but great talent, who slowly changes the dynamics of the formerly all-male ensemble.

Marcus Darnley has designed an elegant setting for the play with a black stage scored with music staff lines and a background of alternating black and white panels - the white ones wallpapered with sheet music. It is lit dramatically by Marianne Meadows to create different feelings for different locations. More than lights and sets, however, this play is most vulnerable to any deficiencies in sound design. It is a good thing, then, that the Stage Guild has a sound system that can faithfully reproduce the performances the real-life Vertigo String Quartet recorded for the play's world premiere at the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia. The five actors bow across the slack strings of their instruments, recreating the motion of playing (without the intricate fingering) while the Vertigo provides the sound of performance and rehearsal. Lindquist has one moment that sums up the passion musicians seek in performance when he reacts to Coons' statement that she'd never played the Beethoven work before. He seems almost overwhelmed by the thought of being able to play that masterpiece again for the first time.

Written by Michael Hollinger. Directed by Steven Carpenter. Design: Marcus Darnley (set) William Pucilowsky (costumes) Marianne Meadows (lights) Steven Carpenter (sound) Rebecca L. Trotter (stage manager). Cast: Kathleen Coons, Kryztov Lindquist, Ritchie Porter, Carl Randolph, R. Scott Williams.

1901 14th St. NW.
Call now for tickets!

(240) 582-0050