Here’s to Acting With You, Kid

What is it about art that makes romance so intoxicating? Acting, for many, isn’t just an art form. It’s an aphrodisiac. Can you possibly leave a good romance on stage? Or does it come home with you, no matter how much you try to compartmentalize?

More than that, even if you do bring it home with you, will it ever truly be the same?

These are the sultry questions asked by Alice Livingstone’s Stage Kiss, a two and a half hour exploration of what it means when art and passion collide. If nothing else, leaving you with the sticky-sweet impossibly complex questions of who exactly artists become once they’re out of the spotlight.

The piece drips with comedic charm; the tempo across the board is almost flawless, physical comedy remained brilliant and kept the piece moving (especially important in its 75 minute opening act), and the script had no shortage of clever in-jokes to make the theatre people in the audience chuckle. A definite standout in this regard was Nicholas Papademetriou’s Director, a golden portrayal of the wandering, pretentious, and slightly self-obsessed creatives we’ve all met. Similarly, Frank Shanahan’s collection of characters were all individually brilliant, and he had some of the most distinct physical comedy moments in the show.

The first act was light on its feet, and despite its length, was never inspiring one to check the time. Yet, admittedly, the length of the first act does somewhat convince you that the show could end there. The second act then, has quite a task at hand - convincing the audience it should exist. It’s here that one could see the production start to dip in places. There are significantly less moments of comedy in the second act, and the script itself seems to take on this somewhat strange train of thought about punishing the lead female character by relishing in the breaking of her boundaries. But with Emma Delle-Vedove giving us such an empathetic portrayal of a woman dealing with romantic complexities, I found myself leaving with a bitter taste in my mouth at watching her be all but abused by her art form. Perhaps, this is better commented on as the likeability of the character herself, and the talented portrayal of her inner world by Delle-Vedove. Interestingly, Jason Swindlow’s “He” was somewhat better supported by the script in this regard. During the first act, it is easy to be swept up in his artistic romanticism, and yet, when the cold water of his living situation and avoidant tendencies hit you in the second act, you empathise with him, but not quite enough for us as the audience to want to stick around with him.

This production is kept alive and bounding by its brilliant ensemble: Lynden Jones, Nicola Denton, and Victoria Fowler do above and beyond to keep the story moving, and keep us from settling too much into the discomfort of some of the script’s less attractive moments. They also produced some of the most impressive “background noise” I’ve ever seen, keeping every moment alive. The set in the first act was effectively simple, and developed into a quality portrayal of a run down home in the second act. Accents, admittedly, dipped in and out across the board, and yet with a play as meta as this, when the actors have to play actors playing parts (badly), I can imagine why some of the finer details got a little lost in the wash.

Overall, the production presents an interesting discussion on the addictiveness of artistic passion, wrapped up neatly in a masterpiece of comedic performance. Although some of the script’s beats slow it down slightly, the performances across the board make up for it. If you’re looking to find out what would’ve happened if that show situationship kept going… Stage Kiss is more than happy to let you know.