By Michael Hollinger
Produced by Washington Stage Guild
Reviewed by Rosalind Lacy
Early on in Michael Hollinger’s Opus, string quartet music is compared to love making and "a discourse among four reasonable people." Beautifully acted and staged at the Washington Stage Guild, director Steven Carpenter establishes the right tone for the interlock of a witty duel from brilliant talk that resonates like shared notes and overlapping phrases of music.
Off-stage, you would expect the select four "to complete sentences for each other," if they must perform together "like four instruments with one bow." Not so. Ultimately, the playwright’s seamless dialogue builds to a moment of delicious discord that transcends into titillating theater. On opening night, the audience seemed to take a breath with each rest in the well-timed interplay until the last tense moment.
