Sarah Ruhl’s Stage Kiss, directed here by Blanche McIntyre, begins as a sparkling backstage comedy in which two actors, cast opposite one another in a melodramatic play-within-the-play, discover that rehearsed intimacy has begun bleeding dangerously into real feeling. Advertised as a ‘romantic comedy’, it certainly delivers laughs, particularly in a superbly judged first act, though Ruhl ultimately has more complicated things on her mind than romance alone.
The opening rehearsal scenes are exquisitely funny. Ruhl captures with pinpoint accuracy the awkward professionalism of actors negotiating stage intimacy, while simultaneously exposing the vanity, insecurity and emotional confusion lurking beneath the surface. The comedy depends heavily on timing, and this production gets it exactly right. MyAnna Buring is especially good, never forcing the humour but grounding every line in nervous intelligence and emotional spontaneity. Around her, the supporting cast contribute enormously to the production’s comic texture. Rolf Saxon’s director becomes a crucial figure in balancing theatrical fiction against emotional reality, while James Phoon’s deliberately stylised performances reinforce the production’s growing sense of artifice. Jill Winternitz, Toto Bruin and Oliver Dimsdale each add distinct tonal shades to an ensemble perpetually shifting between sincerity and performance.
The play-within-the-play, an intentionally overwrought melodrama involving dying wives, old lovers and increasingly absurd declarations of passion, allows Ruhl to parody theatrical romance while also letting genuine feeling emerge through it. The repeated stage kisses gradually stop feeling merely theatrical, and the audience becomes complicit in the rekindling of the pair’s former relationship.
Act II, however, deliberately shifts register. The realism of the rehearsal room gives way to broader stylisation as the theatrical machinery itself begins to collapse. In one hilariously absurd sequence, a pimp repeatedly attempts to shoot a prostitute: gunshots misfire, blood packs fail to explode, and cues go awry while the actress wanders obliviously offstage. The scene is played for laughs, but it also reveals what Ruhl is really investigating — the fragility of theatrical and romantic illusion alike.
The play’s central idea arrives when Harrison, the actress’s husband, reveals he commissioned the production in which the former lovers have been cast. His explanation quietly reframes the evening:
“Marriage is about repetition… Romance is not about repetition.”
It is an unexpectedly moving idea, sharpened by Harrison’s evident longing to bring his wife back into the family home. The play contrasts romance, theatrical, intoxicating and dependent on novelty, with marriage as endurance, ritual and forgiveness. Yet while the second half is intellectually intriguing, it loses some of the spontaneous comic vitality that made Act I so exhilarating.
The cast navigate these shifting tonal registers with complete commitment, balancing emotional sincerity against overt theatricality, while McIntyre’s direction embraces instability rather than smoothing it away. At times this risks alienating the audience; at others it becomes genuinely provocative and unexpectedly funny.
This is unlikely to satisfy audiences seeking emotional realism or neat narrative clarity on first viewing. But for those willing to engage with its layered theatrical games, the production offers something more intellectually lingering than immediately gratifying. Like the best meta-theatrical drama, Stage Kiss continues unfolding in the mind long after the performance itself has ended.
Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Blanche McIntyre
Cast includes:
MyAnna Buring, Patrick Kennedy, Oliver Dimsdale, Rolf Saxon, James Phoon, Toto Bruin. Jill Winternitz.
Running time: 2 hours and 10 minutes including an interval
Until: 13 June 2026
Photo credit: Helen Murray