A man is looking out to sea, and waiting for a knock on his door, and he fears he will be taken on a boat ride by the not-so-secret police, and that he’ll be diving deep.

A writer tries to remain true to himself under Fascism.  As a Man Grows Younger is a dramatic monologue set in Italy in the 1920s, inspired by the friendship of two writers, Svevo and Joyce, and their roads from obscurity to fame.

My parents gave me the name Ettore Schmitz.
I gave myself the name Italo Svevo.
James Joyce named me Leopold Bloom.
I’m his Ulysses, people are reading about me far and wide,
only they don’t know it’s me when they read his novel.

Italo Svevo was the pen-name of Ettore Schmitz of Trieste, who was a businessman, a student and friend of James Joyce and ultimately one of Italy’s most famous twentieth century authors.  He was an Austrian-Italian, Catholic-Jew, socialist-capitalist, and a liberal who endured the Fascism of Mussolini, and like many others wondered as to his own security under the rule of the Blackshirts.  Through writing he did what he could to reconcile the contradictions of his character and circumstances

Press for previous plays by Howard Colyer

Colyer has continued to do what he does so skillfully—to take a noteworthy piece of writing and adapt it freely to create something new which has the essence of the original but is a compelling stage work in its own right. The talented Mr Bromley is wonderful as Trotta. His assured delivery is a joy to watch and he and Bannister provide a tension to the piece that makes it quite spellbinding. British Theatre Guide on 1938 – Hitler Takes Vienna

Howard Colyer both breaks ground and excavates characters in the manner of a ballroom dancer wielding a pickaxe. This carefully matched, superbly produced selection of short plays illustrates just how consistently and boldly he does so. EXTRA! EXTRA! on Never Have I Seen Mount Fuji

Resident writer at the Jack Studio Colyer scores another hit with this latest adaptation ★★★★ London Pub Theatres on The Trial