A first time collaboration sees The Osborne Studio Gallery on tony Motcomb Street in Knightsbridge host a new and intimate production of Alfred de Musset’s 168 year old play, A Door Must Be Kept Open – or Shut. Musset’s sharp witted lines delivered bluntly in this aristocratic battle of the sexes are a delight to take in and seem to ring as true today as when this punchy one act play was penned nearly two centuries ago.
Must a door be kept open – or shut? Personally, I don’t have too strong of an opinion on the matter, but I nevertheless had a lot of fun listening to the super rich and exacting Marquise (played by Katherine Heath) explain the merits of such a maxim (and grand metaphor for love) to her smitten counterpart, the equally wealthy and desperately earnest Baron (Christopher Staines).
On one hand, I found it difficult to care much at all about the two stubbornly prideful characters and their inept handling of emotions. Yet on the other, I felt utterly compelled to absorb every aspect of the grandly written (and excellently translated from French by Peter Meyer) and rather soap operatic tennis match of words being played out with the player’s hearts completely on the line. Such tension between hardly giving a shit for the messengers and experiencing great affinity for the message they conveyed proved a delightful grapple.
Bravo to producer-director, Martin Parr (no not that Martin Parr, this Martin Parr) for his scintillating and minimalist staging of this melodramatic match! Composer Laurence Cummings’ original score for the play – with live singing from soprano Ana Maria Rincon and choreography by Anthony Kurt-Gabel – deserves applause as well for his masterfully delicate punctuation of this classic work.
A Door Must Be Kept Open – or Shut runs until 22 September at The Osborne Studio Gallery. The gallery is located at 2 Motcomb Street, SW1X 8JU. For more details and online booking information go to osg.uk.com.
