Man To Man review – Tilda Swinton’s perfect pacing makes this multi-character monologue compelling

Royal Court Theatre, London

Starting in Germany in the 1930s, there is a stinging topicality to Manfred Karge’s play addressing the renaissance of Nazi ideology

Early autumn London theatre has already featured two Oscar winners: Cate Blanchett in Electra / Persona and Mark Rylance in Tartuffe (Remixed). Now Tilda Swinton makes a trio. This shows the commendable dedication of some screen talent to theatre but also the box office need, in recessions, for famous faces. Unusually, there was a first night red carpet outside the Royal Court, leading a writer long associated with the venue to express “shock” to ushers at such Hollywood vulgarity.

Swinton is reprising Manfred Karge’s Man To Man, which she first performed 39 years ago, in a production heading to Edinburgh, Berlin and New York. The piece is a multicharacter monologue starting in Germany in the 1930s. When her husband, Max, dies, Ella Gericke puts on his clothes and takes over his job as a crane operator. She seems to act from some combination of bereavement denial, cross-gender curiosity and proto-feminist belief in equal employment.