Swinton is frighteningly fearless
I will start by saying this is a phenomenal piece of work by Tilda Swinton in Manfred Karge’s Man To Man, a part she premiered almost 40 years ago, and has now come back to the stage for this Stephen Unwin revival, writes Michael Holland.
The curtain rises on Ella Gericke in a confrontational stance, which should be difficult to pull off in a string vest and red Y-fronts. Mad hair and a form of make-up, applied like eczema, complete the punk look – but a punk who can actually have a fight. Her inner-London accent grates. Swinton is scary.
It is 1930s Berlin, Hitler has come to power and Ella’s husband Max gets ill and dies. She decides to don his work clothes and carry on in his crane driving job, high up and alone here she hopes other workers will not notice any change.
Ella gets away with it for years, as we zoom through time: the war comes and she could be getting called up to fight, Berlin is bombed to bits, the Far-Right loses, Hitler commits suicide, the Russians and Americans divide up her city, the Berlin Wall comes down, she/he ages and retires.
As well as the obvious problems related to Ella keeping her secret hidden, so much history is covered in just under 90 minutes, with Swinton taking on all the roles as she prowls the stage, straddles and manspreads her legs in chairs, redecorates the Bunny Christie set, and paints pictures with words that make the audience sit up and listen even more. She is frighteningly fearless. You can’t take your eyes off her.
Life has moved on since the original text was written, so two extra scenes have been added; the Wall coming down and the recent rise in Far-Right Fascism in the West, making this old, but brilliant play, very relevant once again.
Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London, SW1W 8AS until 24th October
Booking and full details: https://royalcourttheatre.com/events/man-to-man/
