Review: Master Class, King's Theatre

This latest production by Terrence McNally is a subtle exploration of the life of legendary operatic diva Maria Callas as she reflects on a career which saw her scale the heights of opera.

Stephanie Beacham - familiar from TV shows such as Dynasty and Coronation Street - gives the performance of a lifetime in two hours of almost uninterrupted stage time, bringing to life the fiery, temperamental Callas as she shares the professional successes and glamorous personal life that turned her into a public icon.

We, the audience, are Callas' audience at the Juilliard School in New York, 1972, as she prepares to assess three young and enthusiastic students, joined on stage by her accompanist at a grand piano.

Elegantly marching on to the stage in a black dress and adopting a perfect Greek-American sultry drawl, Beacham sets the tone brilliantly as she complains about the lights, summons a technician on stage with her requested cushion, and dismisses the notion of a microphone, telling us that if we can't hear her, we're not concentrating hard enough.

In this way the 'lesson' becomes a completely immersive experience from the very start and Beacham has the audience in the palm of her hand, injecting a magnetic charisma and humour into the role as she sets about her brutally honest critique of the nave young hopefuls.

She laments their absence of any passion, the central tenet in her musical philosophy, and endeavours to convey her profound love of the art.

But Callas' lifelong acceptance of nothing less than absolute dedication and perfection forces her to confront her own weaknesses, in the twilight of her own career and now losing her singing voice.

Recollections of her turbulent and ill-fated relationship with Aristotle Onassis, early struggles to gain recognition, and a memorable performance at La Scala, all pour out as she floats back and forth across the darkened stage in a simple but effective scene that conveys the intensity of emotions that would have once embodied her stage performances.

Terrence McNally deserves credit for creating this humorous and poignant portrait of a tormented genius in such an engaging format, but Stephanie Beacham's performance is an absolute joy to watch from start to finish.

A master class indeed.

Run ends Saturday