011 Contemporary Comedy – New
Five Lessons was
one in a series of plays written especially for Maureen Lipman. I didn’t hear any of the others, but I tuned
into this one (I admit it, because it co-stars Julian Rhind-Tutt). The enjoyable and deceptively simple story
makes you forget there are only two actors.
Maureen Lipman plays PW, a famous writer of long-standing who goes to
Conrad for piano lessons. At first she
lies about her identity, but it turns out he is a fan. He teases out of her that she has stopped
writing novels due to the fact her latest offering was turned down by a
publisher whose intern reader said she was out of touch with the modern
world. The acting and the characters are
memorable, helped by the enjoyable piano music.
It turns out that PW actually just wants to be playing Jerome Kern, and that
her playing is comprehensively mediocre.
It was written by Marcy Kahan and directed by Marion Nancarrow.
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