(5 / 5)
I never thought I would get the chance to watch such a phenomenal actor and chameleon on stage, in the flesh, as Tilda Swinton. A performer to not be typecast, this deep and dark tale, revived from her previous performance of the same production in 1988 (while I cannot comment on the original) I imagine is not only as good the second time but maybe even better.
Man to Man is the story of Ella who in 1930’s Germany, takes on the impersonation of her husband Max after he dies, in order to survive. As the world around her turns upside down and she is more and more the character of her husband, this mask becomes even more for her survival but begins to blur the boundaries around her own identity.
This is a one person production. Highly stylised, the tipping stage is completely white, with knick knacks and seemingly random objects until they all make sense throughout. The white walls are used to project slightly grainy images and words throughout, giving a modernised appearance to the time period of the narrative. Swinton is dressed in a mismatch of male-female clothing, highlighting this cross between her and her alter ego, again, blurring identities simply by aesthetic alone. Swinton’s make up is bizarre and almost clown-like, with white skin and cartoonish colouring for bruises and stains. It all melds to give a hyper reality to the production.
Swinton is a tour de force. She never stops and, while the energy isn’t fast and high octane, the effort in her performance to become the character, with the decision to make “Max” a bit of a east end cockney type despite being set in Germany, you can tell this takes extraordinary skill and energy to be able to do. She is likeable, in that loveable rogue sense. As the production starts slightly comedic and light hearted, she seamlessly transitions into the more serious moments and the hyper-realistic make-up and set drifts away in the raw emotion she shows simply and not melodramatically.
Man to Man is such an intriguing and interesting narrative but it truly comes to life when the unrecognisable and astonishing Swinton steps on the stage.
