“What if the smallest, almost forgotten moments were the ones that shaped us most?”
After two decades of working as a television writer, creating what he was commissioned to rather than what he desired, Michael Jamin made a change. He wrote, for once, about himself in a series of personal essays. Each essay struck a different note, building to the orchestra of his life. In this show, Jamin recounts two stories from this collection.
The first establishes some of the more idiosyncratic of his childhood behaviours. For example, needing to suck his fingers after touching certain disagreeable textures. Or, more recognisably, a distaste for sports and preference for crafts. At the core of this anecdote is young Michael’s father believing that he should “toughen up.”
However, the Judo lessons — a form of organised violence which his father equated to his own time in the army — had the opposite effect. A severe beating lead Jamin to the following conclusion: these activities are not “not meant to build character, but destroy it.” This is a powerful peroration on the toxicity of traditional masculinity, and a testament to staying weird and different. To Jamin, it is more important to stay true to yourself than to repress and conform; a worthy message delivered with witty charm and just the right amount of theatricism.
Jamin’s expressive storytelling then shifts from his own apprehensive childhood to his daughter’s. He explores the breakdown of the close relationship between parents and children as they grow older; something inevitable and well documented, but difficult to swallow, nonetheless. Woven into the story of Jamin’s adult home life is his miserly neighbour, whom he affectionately terms Undead Fred. It is a chilling moment, perfectly timed, when the audience see the parallel between Undead Fred and the aging Jamin himself.
In these excerpts from his book, Jamin is real and relatable. He spans childhood through to adulthood, focussing on the moments often ignored and drawing incredible poignancy from them. Running through each of his personal essays is the idea that, no matter your relationship with the other person or the situation you are in, love is the most important thing.
Image courtesy of Kevin Wilson, provided to The Student as press material.