Jonathan Watkins’ A Single Man was first performed at the Manchester International Festival in July earlier this year and has now transferred to the wonderfully intimate Linbury this week. Based on Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel about queer love, loss and grief, the most notable and affecting aspect of the production is that it feels as if you're watching it play out in real time.
Set in the ’60s with ravishing sets by Chiara Stephenson, costumes by Holly Waddington and Eleanor Bull and superb lighting by Simisola Majekodunmi, it doesn’t take more than a few seconds to engage the audience. Add to this an original score by Jasmin Kent Rodgman, played live but out of sight by the Manchester Collective, and original songs by John Grant which he performs live on stage and you have a collaborative work that tells the story with clarity and sensitivity.
George, a middle-aged English professor based in California, has just lost his lover Jim in a tragic car accident. Because homosexuality was still considered ‘sinful’ at that time he is unable to share his grief. Coming out of retirement to play the physical George, former Royal Ballet principal Ed Watson, has never looked in better shape. Playing the mind of the troubled George is Grant, perched on a platform above the stage, majestically outlined in a neon profile of a man’s face.
Watson’s George is plagued by memories and visions of Jim, tantalisingly danced by the superlative dancer and actor Jonathan Goddard, in a series of flashbacks and tender moments. The crux of the matter is: can George ever let him go? While this may seem all doom and gloom, it transpires that Watkins has punctuated the production with moments of real joy and humour.
Initially it focuses on the mundanities of George’s daily existence, his teaching, playing tennis, the rituals and routines in which he distractedly goes through the motions without fully connecting. With Grant’s outpouring of words – he has a particularly large vocal range – we are able to grasp the difficulties of trudging through this unfulfilling reality of his life.
But there is hope in the form of Kristen McNally’s Charley, whom George feels able to confide in and at the start of the second act they indulge in a jaunty duet of drunken bopping. McNally also possesses the acting gene and their united joviality is infectiously realistic. There is hope too in James Hay’s magnetic Kenny, one of George’s students, when they go for a dip in the ocean. It represents turning a corner or in Grant’s words, “The Baptism of the surf is washing over us,” the act of spontaneity releases enough endorphins to bring renewed vigour.
The strengths in the choreography and direction are mostly within the many duets and solo moments. The detail in both the movement vocabulary and the tiny gestures and expressions, really do tell the story. The proximity of the stage to the audience means that not a single glance goes unnoticed. While this is completely engrossing with the leading protagonists, it’s less comfortable with the hard working ensemble.
Made up of a selection of very good freelancers, the lack of uniformity actually makes the characters feel authentic. However, the choreography is less imaginative than for the main characters and quite repetitive. While each of them gives 100%, the results are occasionally plodding. Overall, the group scenes could do with some tightening up and editing.
Watkins must have been rubbing his hands together when Watson and Goddard (who will also dance George at some performances) agreed to participate in A Single Man. Both dancers are mature, but rather than feeling perhaps they’re in the twilight of their careers, the opposite is true. Their combined experience, the depth of their individual interpretations is so compelling that you leave the theatre with churned up emotions. Watson’s tearful collapse at the end of the first act actually made me well up. This is ultimately what you want from a narrative: to feel moved, to feel involved and to want replay all the minutiae of the events you’ve witnessed. Towering performances warrant repeat viewings.
