KISS ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT
Kiss Me Like You Mean It Unit 107 in association with Tamarama Rock Surfers at the Old Fitzroy Theatre; 23 October-22 November; 1300 GET TIX www.rocksurfers.org
DO PLEASE stir yourself out of post-Obama bliss or global economic crisis blues and see this production of Chris Chibnall’s bitter-sweet romantic comedy, Kiss Me Like You Mean It. Chibnall is an Englishman whose main success to date has been for TV, including Torchwood, Born and Bred, Dr Who and Spooks. Kiss Me is his second play.
Unlike many screenwriters, he has worked out that the two forms are different and this play is written in coherent, theatrical scenes; and neither the actors nor the production are required to try to emulate filmic devices such as fragmented scenes, black-outs and dissolves. This is actually a play!
It’s also a play that has been given an absorbing production by director and designer Luke Cowling who, by force of imagination and with lighting designer Martin Kinnane, has transformed the tiny Fitzroy space into something much larger and more versatile than usual. Cowling has also orchestrated fine performances from the four actors.
The setting is the backyard of an old apartment block in the early hours. Inside, a party is getting pissed-puke-ugly. Fate (or the playwright, take your pick) brings two bored partygoers into the yard and each other’s lives. Ruth (Melinda Dransfield) is a gorgeous but take-no-prisoners young woman who is absolutely not about to take any crap from dorky Tony (Lee Jones). Initially he fails to impress with his white-boy dancing and lack of elan in the age-old seduction ploy of lighting a girl’s cigarette. But he doesn’t give up and most of the first half is given over to their stop-start journey from antagonism to the possibility of somewhere else.
Punctuating this fractured and funny sparring match are startling scenes spied through a transparently-curtained upstairs bedroom window, where enthusiastic and uninhibited sex is taking place between two obviously older people. They are Don (Peter Carmody) and Edie (Maggie Blinco) who have been married 50 years and know how to have a very good time.
Ruth and Tony, whose attempts to make human contact with each other are still awkward and involve one step forward and two back (not least because their respective current partners are also at the party), are amazed when Don and Edie come clattering down the stairs. In a glow of post-coital merriment the oldies are going to plant out some potted marigolds.
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Why this should be slowly becomes apparent in a twist to the story which is a poignant mixture of humour and profound seriousness. Dransfield, who is also the play’s co-producer, read it some years ago and has worked ever since to get this co-op production to the stage. She also wanted Maggie Blinco to play Edie and it’s brilliant casting.
Blinco is a force of nature: vibrant, generous, full of life and colour and also a fine actress. She brings all these qualities to bear in the person of Edie, a woman who still loves sex, rock’n’roll and likes nothing more than a gentle – and expert – jive with her beloved Don. Hers is a beautifully judged performance, funny and touching by turns and supported with similar warmth and expertise by Peter Carmody.
Lee Jones is also terrific as the amiable no-hoper Tony who works in a call centre and has all the ambition of a pancake. Until he sees Ruth and that coincides with some unrequested but pointed home truths from Don. Jones makes a considerable yet plausible journey over the course of the night: from drongo to a young man who suddenly sees life, love and possibilities opening up before him.
As Ruth, Melinda Dransfield also grows through the course of the play: from an “am I bovvered?” ballbreaker to a girl who is tentatively and tremulously willing to open her heart and take a risk. The transformation of the two is brought about by their initially horrified, then bemused and finally, charmed response to the unruly and apparently wacky oldsters.
Kiss Me Like You Mean It comes out of the blue and underlines the importance of the independent sector in bringing hitherto unknown and/or new plays and writers to Sydney audiences. In this instance, the production is a cracker with four marvelous performances, much laughter and lumps in throat. And it deserves an audience, so do please go.
