STAGE REVIEW: Duet for One, at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Monday, November 6, to Saturday, November 11, 2017.

IT’S better to just ignore the title as this is definitely a damn good double act as well as an engrossing play of the highest quality.

Author Tom Kempinski says what we see is a metaphor for his life and is most certainly light years away from the myth that it is based on the life of Jacqueline du Pre, the great cellist, who suffered at the height of her career with the onset of multiple sclerosis.

Parallels can be drawn with a story that has existed for close on 40 years of the play's life, during which time it has won numerous awards.

Although some may claim it’s bit old fashioned it has be argued it is still popular and sits well in this modern era as a revival that is most welcome.

Kempinski also says in his programme notes, which he insists must be read before curtain up, that his early years - centred around the Second World War - were affected by separations, death and evacuation and led to him having a badly damaged personality.

Since then he has always attempted to suppress his feelings of depression, rage and anxiety and this is the crux of the play, his entire psychology being to deaden and deny his actual inner life.

What he provides is a fully charged roller-coaster of emotions as Stephanie, a successful concert violinist, faces similar inner turmoil after being struck down by a tragic illness which brings her career to a close.

Belinda Lang ensures Stephanie is totally believable as she produces a truly stunning performance. She could really be Stephanie as she captures the character of a woman railing against the illness which now blights her life but is gradually convinced to face what the future will bring.

Meanwhile Oliver Cotton provides the perfect foil in psychiatrist, Dr Feldman. He is a softly-spoken and patient German, whose benign manner and quiet probing slowly gets Stephanie to face up to her deepest fears - those in her current life and what lies ahead.

He too, admits, his life has been beset by a number of grim realities.

Intensely moving, with moments of intimacy and humour, Duet for One is one of those theatrical treats and it provides two outstanding performances from this double-act.

A sensitive and mesmerising piece of theatre that any serious arts lover would be devastated to miss.