The Humbling

Simon Axler is one of America’s leading classical stage actors, but his talent – his magic – has deserted him. All the spontaneity and unthinking impulsiveness that made him great has been replaced by a paralysing self-consciousness. Overwhelmed, Axler’s wife promptly leaves him, and Axler checks into a psychiatric hospital. It is only when he begins an affair with Pegeen – formerly a lesbian of 17 years – that Axler’s regeneration (and then his final catastrophe) can begin.