Tilda Swinton returns to the role she played nearly 40 years ago as Ella Gericke in Man to Man. This solo play is by Manfred Karge (in translation by Anthony Vivis), and directed once again, as in 1988, by Stephen Unwin.
It is a difficult play, given a sense of absurd abstraction by make-up and costume choices. Frau Gericke finds herself unexpectedly a widow after her husband, Max, dies of cancer.
In order to survive, she takes on his persona and job, stuffing her y-fronts with a bulge and assuming a vulgar and brash personality. But she is in 1930s Germany, with Hitler’s rise bringing on the threat of war.
Man to Man is extremely harsh about men and their treatment of women. More than once Ella has to trade sex in order to keep her secret safe. She finds herself forced into drinking and eating excess in the pub, paces up and down a cell where no seating is available in daytime, and takes on significant manual work.
Bunny Christie’s set is white walls – on which occasional projections and video add context, while carefully chosen props give colour. A radio, a cassette player, a kettle, a filthy fridge, a heater and a TV all have their place.
Ella is matter-of-fact, direct, masculine – or at least, her version of it – and achingly vulnerable. She might laugh about the size of her breasts and the state of her ‘festering feet’ but behind the humour is the widow not allowed to grieve.
Swinton is tall, pale, and occasionally winks at the audience. We are all complicit in the story of a woman who needs to earn money and live free in a world that doesn’t see her.
Ella as Max may be coarse and blunt, but she is still capable of helping out another woman who needs to run. Her appearance may lean into that of the grotesque clown, with white legs, yellow armpits, and a fright wig, but we can still see her inside.
Seeing the history of Prussia, Nazi Germany, and eventual reunification through one woman’s eyes make Man to Man an intense but intriguing play. There are threads about the treatment of Jews and homosexuals as Hitler’s goons take power.
There is no real storyline to follow in Man to Man. No ending for Ella who doesn’t even have the grave she marked as her own, let alone her identity card. She may have grown her muscles, but pushed her femininity so deep it is hard to find again.
This is a story of the woman as Man, the mother who might have been living in the Fatherland. Swinton is deeply impressive and compelling, yet the drama just stays out of reach.
I’m giving this 4 stars.
Man to Man continues at the Royal Court until 24 Oct. It is co-produced with Berliner Ensemble and Brian & Dayna Lee.
Photo credit: Rüdiger Glatz