Musician John Grant was blown away by Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel, finding deep resonances in its tale of gay love and loss. Now, he’s put songs to choreographer Jonathan Watkins’s new dance adaptation
“I
can’t believe that somehow I was able to make it all the way to the age of 55 without having read that book!” says American singer-songwriter John Grant. “It’s a transformative book. I was just completely blown away by it; I’ve been trying to get everybody that I’ve ever met to read it.”
The book Grant is telling me about, enthusing from his sofa at home in Reykjavík, is Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man, published in 1964, turned into 2009’s most stylish film by first-time director Tom Ford, starring Colin Firth, and now about to be a ballet, premiering at this year’s Manchester international festival. Grant, the former Czars frontman and now an acclaimed solo artist (with albums including Pale Green Ghosts and his latest, The Art of the Lie), is writing the new show’s songs.
A Single Man is the story of middle-aged academic George, an Englishman in LA, quietly living through devastating grief following the death of his partner, Jim, in a car accident. Reporting George’s thoughts in granular detail, the book charts, as Grant puts it, “the millions of tiny moments that make up human life”. The idea of turning the book into a ballet came from choreographer Jonathan Watkins (Kes, 1984, Reasons to Stay Alive), who had been musing on the concept since before the pandemic. “Jonathan was pursuing me about this for several years, and I was a little confused about why anybody would want me to do it,” says Grant, though he says he’s always liked dance. Once Grant had read the book, it resonated so strongly there was no doubt. “It was like this man had been inside my head walking around. I mean, I knew I was self-absorbed,” he laughs, “but I didn’t realise there were people out there that understood me so deeply.”
