STAGE KISS
Hampstead Theatre
★★★★
“There are twists and turns as we are shuffled between ever growing layers of reality and fantasy”
It was the ancient Chinese philosopher, Chuang Tzu, who first formulated the ‘dreaming argument’, that goes some way to explain the unsettling experience of waking up from a dream and not fully knowing whether we are in reality, or whether we are still in the dream believing we are awake. There are quite a few moments in Sarah Ruhl’s “Stage Kiss” that provoke a similar sensation. Towards the end of her wry and unique take on the ‘play within a play’ concept, we begin to fail to tell the difference. It is a framing device that Rhul handles with skill, in the same way that she can combine making us laugh while we simultaneously question human relationships.
Inspired by her experiences as a playwright in the rehearsal room, “Stage Kiss” is a tribute to the acting profession, reflecting the absurd yet fascinating concept of faking reality for a living. It is also a romantic comedy. Set in an indeterminate present – though before intimacy coordinators became a thing – it focuses on two actors who have been lovers in the past and are now both cast in a play in which they must kiss each other repeatedly. They need to make the kiss convincing but at the same time they must maintain the boundary between their real lives outside the theatre and the emotional lives they are fabricating on stage. The added complication of a previous shared intimacy and heartbreak adds fuel to the already incendiary dilemma. The lines get well and truly blurred in Ruhl’s story of life imitating art imitating life.
Despite the premise; the writing, acting and the direction are all steeped in reality. It takes a particular skill to portray bad writing, bad acting and bad directing convincingly, without coming across as just being bad. Each department here are truly excellent. The first act opens in the audition room for the premiere of the preposterously written fictional play, ‘The Last Kiss’, before moving into the rehearsal room and then finally onto opening night. Blanche McIntyre directs with the sharpest eye on realism, matched by the cast’s unfailing authenticity and naturalism. There is deep affection for the industry that gives licence to satirise it to the hilt. Whether you relate to it as an insider or not, the comedy is perfectly pitched and the characterisation astonishingly accurate. If anybody stands out, it is Myanna Buring, who lights up the stage with her nuanced portrayal of the lead actress (simply referred to as ‘she’) whose foundations are shaken by the arrival of her leading man (the wonderful Patrick Kennedy). Rolf Saxon, as the director, brilliantly encapsulates the misguided and ineffectual earnestness of the fictional ‘luvvie’ world that these characters inhabit. It is sheer joy watching them murder their art, aided and abetted by Oliver Dimsdale’s cuckolded husband, and James Phoon as the out-of-his-depth understudy. Toto Bruin and Jill Winternitz complete the line-up, relishing their bit-part roles and drawing them into the comedy spotlight.
Whilst the humour is preserved in the second act, the tone shifts dramatically. Opening night for ‘The Last Kiss’ is done and dusted, the reviews are terrible and we are now in a shabby apartment. Onstage romance has overlapped into real life. We tread close to farce but, again, the writing and the acting are too fine to cross that boundary. Multi-rolling comes into play as Dimsdale is now the real-life cuckold and Bruin the daughter caught in the crossfire of adult infidelities; while Winternitz doubles as the wronged girlfriend. We are witnessing the aftermath. The real life. But like Tzu’s dream, we have to remind ourselves we are still watching make believe. Saxon returns as the director, with an even more outrageously bad idea for another play. There are twists and turns as we are shuffled between ever growing layers of reality and fantasy, in between which are surprising moments of serious and heartfelt poignancy.
Against the backdrop of Robert Innes Hopkins’ shifting and authentic sets, “Stage Kiss” is disconcertingly clever. It starts with a kiss. But that kiss is just the foreplay to something much more intimate and complicated. And brilliantly funny too. Just like real life I guess, if you’re able to tell it apart. But even if we are led to question it, one thing is for certain. The play within the play received terrible reviews. Ruhl’s play is unquestionably the real thing.
STAGE KISS
Hampstead Theatre
Reviewed on 14th May 2026
by Jonathan Evans
Photography by Helen Murray
