(L to R) Theo Fraser Steele as George and Miles Molan as Jim and Kenny
[Mitzi de Margary]
HENRY BELL is fascinated by the underlying curiosities and contradictions of one of the great poets of the Mediterranean
DAVID RENTON recommends a books that explores the ways in which disabled people are made to feel both of and not part of this world
JONATHAN TAYLOR is fascinated by the philosophical problems that permeate the art of life-writing
GORDON PARSONS steps warily in between the lines of Britain’s most famous diarist
SIMON DUFF recommends a recording of Arvo Part that takes the listener on a pilgrimage through seemingly distant times and events of the Bible
A Single Man
Park Theatre
CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD, the writer whose novel inspired the musical Cabaret, always considered A Single Man to be the favourite of his nine books. This semi-autobiographical work follows a day in the life of a British expatriate gay man living in Santa Monica, post Cuban Missile Crisis.
Originally controversial because of its homosexual protagonist, the book is about far more than this and at the heart of Simon Reade’s excellent stage adaptation are the multiple roles George, the eponymous character, performs in facing a day unable to move on after the tragic death of his partner.
George, played with dignified restraint by Theo Fraser Steele, reveals moments of true anguish only when totally alone and caught off guard by his memories, otherwise his roles as college professor, freeway driver, friend and mentor allow him to continue to live for the moment reflecting on the world around him and his own identity defined not by the past or others but by what he knows.
SIMON PARSONS is beguiled by a dream-like exploration of the memories of a childhood in Hong Kong
