A Single Man
- Linda Isted
- Jul 4
- 2 min read
Jonathan Watkins, based on the book by Christopher Isherwood
Royal Ballet/Factory International co-production
Aviva Studios, Manchester
July 2-6, 2025; 2hrs
The cavernous Aviva Studios stage is so wide that, when middle-aged college professor George and his dead lover Jim are standing yearningly at each side, it is impossible to see them both clearly without turning your head. This is no accident, of course.
We are in the the United States in the 1960s, when it was still illegal for two men to be in a relationship. Right-minded citizens were supposed to look straight ahead, not noticing the passionate same-sex couples in their midst. A leafy college campus in Los Angeles was no place for deviation of any description.
But here is George, the English professor - danced with every nerve ending quiveringly on show by former Royal Ballet principal Ed Watson - still trying (and failing) to maintain the lie. He is broken with grief but has to keep up appearances in the library, in his classes and on the tennis court.
But he is not, as it turns out, inconsolable. Tentative steps back to life are taken with his friend Charley, danced with slightly too much jerky animation and not quite enough empathy by Kristen McNally, and with student Kenny (James Hay), who has the sensuality and allure to awaken the possibility of a new future for George.
Driving the narrative (with helpful surtitles) are the songs of John Grant, while Jasmin Kent Rodgman’s original score maintains our focus throughout.
The complex set, with its images of everyday life, looms mockingly over George. It cages him but also suggests what life might be if he can emerge from this sea of pain – the sea into which he finally dives with abandon alongside Kenny.
Within this physical and musical framework, director and choreographer Jonathan Watkins uses the (possibly over-long) ebb and flow of the ensemble to track George’s inner turmoil. There is a clarity of emotion within the complexity of his grief, which is handled with both confidence and respect.
A Single Man has a delicacy and tenderness that catches your breath and shines a gentle light on grief, loss and the first flickering of recovery.
As an opener for the Manchester International Festival, whose strapline this year is Dream Differently, it certainly fulfils that demand.
More info and tickets here
