Stage Kiss

Sarah Ruhl’s Stage Kiss is witty, satirical, warm and whimsical. Director Alice Livingstone describes it as “a love letter to theatre and romance” written by “one on America’s finest contemporary playwrights”. On the surface it’s a send up of theatre and marriage and the nostalgic memories of “first love”. But it’s also a particularly clever piece of writing – a play, within a play within a play – that is so skilfully contrived that the edges between each meld cunningly into a funny, theatrically satisfying whole.

As such, it’s delightful challenge for directors and actors and Alice Livingstone and her cast have faced the challenge and with flair. Sending up yourself requires personal introspection. It takes very good actors to play bad actors, but this play demands more than that – they have to play real characters as well! It also demands astute, incisive direction and a real sense of the fun of the art.

Alice Livingstone brings a lifetime of theatrical experience and know-how to this production, as well as deep esteem for Ruhl’s work – “her wit and her profound understanding of the human condition”. All of which are evident in this play. All of which Livingstone and her cast recognise as they deftly navigate the scenes, characters, genres and quirks of this clever play.

Livingstone and her creatives have “conned” the play well, as have the actors. The vision is clear. So are the characters. Understanding the implication of the changes of genre and character is essential to clarify the “reality and fantasy” of the play – and develop the intimacy, timing and comedy that make this production work so well.

Nicholas Papademetriou playing the Director of the “play within” the play, brings three decades of experience and observation across a range of productions to his depiction of the self-assured, posturing director. Every facial expression, every gesture and every movement is perfectly considered and timed to fit in with Livingstone’s tight blocking and comedic rhythm. The facial expressions as he listens to the reading of a scene from a play he has written himself are particularly funny – and tellingly satirical!

Emma Delle-Vedove plays ‘She’ the female character in a play. She has been diagnosed with a fatal disease and begs her husband to contact her “first love” before she dies. Delle-Vedove is also Ada Wilcox, the actor who plays ‘She’, cast in the play opposite the actor who was, literally, her first love! It’s complicated, but it’s very clear!

Delle-Vedove brings experience and imagination to both roles. She is on stage for much of the production. The pace set for her is fast, the character changes constant – yet she doesn’t miss a beat, or any rapid change in tempo or emotion. She has a strong awareness of space and timing which perfectly suits the different demands of the character – diffidence and hesitation one moment, lovesickness the next, anger, regret, three different accents, multiple stage kisses with three – no four! – different actors. As a central character, Delle-Vedove underplays the possibilities of the role beautifully.

Jason Spindlow is ‘He’, the male character who plays the ‘first love’, and Johnny Lowell, the actor who was the first love. Spindlow relishes the quick character changes, the comedy and the accent changes in this role. His characterisation, physicalisation and comic timing are excellent, especially in the second act – and his very last lines!

Frank Shanahan has the task of playing a very a ‘bad’ actor – which he does exceptionally well. He manages to crowd in over-acting, stiffness, bad timing, overdone facial expression, even scene stealing, as he plays an understudy, a doctor, a butler and a pimp! Not easy, but a lot of fun for him and the audience.

Ada’s husband, Harrison Cox, is played by Linden Jones, who takes the character from concerned to hurt to angry to demanding over the course of the production. Nicola Denton plays their outspoken, feisty daughter Millie. Victoria Fowler is Lowell’s schoolteacher girlfriend Laurie. With Shanahan they are all intrinsic to the action, sometimes watching as off-stage actors, always in perfect synch with the action and the timing.

Merle Leuschner’s set suits the action perfectly. A simple backdrop with two doors, covered in the first act with a black curtain. Easily set furniture and props that set the scene. Bianca De Nicola’s costumes give a sense of colour and fun. Lighting (Holly Nesbitt) and sound designed judiciously by Livingstone herself ensure the cast can move easily from scene to scene and genre to genre in appropriate mood and atmosphere.

Another fine production for Alice Livinstone and the New Theatre – and a great opportunity for a very committed cast to show art imitating life, art satirising life, and art satirising art.

Carol Wimmer

Photographer: Bob Seary