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A talented cast and a hugely touching ending.Summary
Rating
Good
It is California, 1962. Ex-pat Englishman George (Theo Fraser Steele) wakes up and gets ready for the day; a day which we will spend with him. Sometime in the past, his partner Jim was killed in a car crash. George now lives his life alone, but we see Jim (Miles Molan) float briefly through the space, the absence and the loss haunting him. The set (by Caitlin Abbott) is grey and concrete, with a large block working as a desk, table and bed – an uncomfortable-looking bed. It’s an almost brutalist design that looks cold, lonely and grey, subsequently mirroring the characters and story.
Steele is impressive. Initially, he plays George with a stoic restraint. We follow him through his day, declining dinner with his bigoted neighbours, driving to work, teaching his class at University and then on to dinner with an old friend, Charley (Olivia Darnley). She is another ex-pat, living nearby and also lonely, abandoned by her husband and feeling distant from her son. Her loneliness drives her extraversion forward, contrasting with the guarded George (or Geo as she calls him).
Following this dinner, where George has spurned Charley’s drunken advances, he finds his way to a bar and he meets his decades-younger student Kenny (Molan doubling up parts). The programme notes that this is Molan’s professional debut and it’s a strong one with really quality work in both his roles. There’s a strange subtext between the two men, never quite fulfilled, but it allows George to drop his guard. We get, for the first time, a view of the person inside. Steele nicely allows us an odd glimpse of the warm man below the loneliness and grief, which lets us empathise with his need for connection. This was a different time and the relationship – or more accurately the suggestion of the potential of one – between Kenny and George wouldn’t have been considered such an issue… well at least the age gap and power gap would not. These days, it doesn’t play so well.
The staging and the movement of the characters are done with style, courtesy of director Philip Wilson. Additionally, Beth Duke’s sound design works well, with music early on and then with funny moments, as the set moves and we are shown a glimpse and sound of George using the toilet.
There are occasional bursts of humour but A Single Man falls prey to a brief conversation resonating so much with current political events that it is impossible for the audience to do anything other than laughing loudly at lines like “things changed and nothing has”. Credit to the cast who didn’t break at this point: it would have been easy.
There are good elements to this production, but on the whole they don’t quite click together. Each individual piece is good (sometimes more than good) but overall it feels cold – colder than the intent. It has leaned too heavily into the style rather than the substance. Having said that, the ending is hugely touching and really quite beautiful as the lights go down.
Written by: Christopher Isherwood
Adapted by: Simon Reade
Directed by: Philip Wilson
Set and Costume Design by: Caitlin Abbott
Sound Designer and Composer: Beth Duke
Producer by: Ashley Cook for Troupe
A Single Man plays at Park Theatre until 26 November. Further information and bookings can be found here.
