Stage Kiss
Writer: Sarah Ruhl
Director: Alice Livingstone
New Theatre, Newtown
18 March – 11 April, 2026
Sarah Ruhl’s inspiration stems from her love for 1930s theatre, and the result is warm, charming, and hilarious. Constructed as a play-within-a-play, Ruhl cheerfully enjoys the confusion that arises for her characters; is the required kissing just part of the play, or is there something of the real thing? Director Alice Livingstone deftly manages to juggle this ambiguity, achieving a satisfactory conclusion for her audience.
Emma Delle-Vedove (simply known as ‘She’ throughout) does a tremendous job of playing a mid-career actor, with all the attendant anxieties of that status. After an uncertain audition and, against all her negative expectations, she wins the part. Elation over her success is somewhat tempered, however, when she finds the male lead (Jason Spindlow – just known as ‘He’) is someone with whom she had shared a passionate youthful relationship. Worse, the play requires a lot of stage kissing. The scene where the two meet and interact, while highly anxious and awkwardly funny, is not without a trace of poignancy.
As rehearsals progress, the characters find themselves having to deal with rekindled feelings which they need to resolve. On the sidelines, watching this intrusion into familial solidarity, is the wonderfully understanding Husband (Lynden Jones) and a confused and slightly rebellious daughter, ably played by Nicola Denton.
The narrative of the rehearsed play is never entirely clear, but it allows marvellous scope for the supporting actors to play a variety of parts, with ensuing comedy: Victoria Fowler manages two parts, and Frank Shanahan, with commendable flexibility, plays six different characters. Holding it all together is the Director, played by Nicholas Papademetriou, who is clearly enjoying his role of providing warm, encouraging protection for his actors. He also garners a lot of the laughs.
Designer Merle Leuschner has given her sets a community-theatre aesthetic: a bare rehearsal room with just a few chairs, and the couple’s home depicted as a smart city apartment, which contrasts with the grungy simplicity of the lover’s digs. Equally, Bianca De Nicola’s costumes have the impromptu, ill-fitting look of items cobbled together. Frank Shanahan’s Pimp costume is hilarious, and his ‘profession’ is instantly recognisable.
Stage practitioners will recognise the familiar tropes and workplace quirks that make their profession such a joy to work in, even if at times it is a precarious choice as a livelihood. All in all, it is a lively, funny, and well-produced play, which audiences will find enormously entertaining.
