Tony and Ruth meet late one night on a rooftop balcony at a rowdy party. Tony is immediately smitten with Ruth, but the feeling isn’t mutual, and besides, she has a boyfriend. Their sparring and flirting are interrupted by Don and Edie, an old married couple who live next door and are sharing a night of drinking, dancing and debauchery – or is something deeper going on?
This is the premise of Kiss Me Like You Mean It, UK writer Chris Chibnall’s delightful play about the eternal truths that govern relationships, as well as the differing experiences of successive generations in this complex domain.
Chibnall has a gift for witty, natural-sounding dialogue, and a knack for creating appealing characters. Regrettably, his grip on structure isn’t as sound. The first act zips along, concentrating on Ruth (Chloe Reid) and Tony (Rob Gaetano) and shifting smoothly from humour to romantic tension to pathos. But Act Two switches focus to Don (Kirk Alexander) and Edie (Carrie Moczynski), thus missing out on a crucial part of Tony’s wooing campaign just when it looks as if he’s about to make some progress. The two couples do briefly intersect again, but without significantly altering each others’ trajectories.
Chibnall’s evident intention, for the two love stories to provide commentary on each other and on the play’s larger concerns, doesn’t quite come off, leaving its separate strands feeling slightly underdeveloped and its themes incompletely explored.
Fortunately, the performers are such a joy to watch that they transcend these limitations. Reid and Gaetano are utterly believable as the acerbic, defensive Ruth and sweet, gormless Tony, and the chemistry between them crackles. Although a crucial section of their classic journey from antagonism to attraction is lacking in the script, director Kate Shearman handles her actors so deftly that we’re able to fill in the gaps for ourselves.
Carrie Moczynski is also impressive as Edie – a devoted but formidable wife, her ladylike veneer failing to hide a feisty heart. Kirk Alexander’s Don is somewhat less convincing; while his performance is technically accomplished, it’s largely comprised of surface mannerisms rather than deeply-felt emotion, and comes across as over-the-top even by the standards of his character, a flashy, bumptious ex-salesman. That said, although Moczynski and Alexander seem to be acting in slightly different plays, as a couple they are thoroughly authentic, displaying both the warm affection and underlying exasperation that bespeak decades of intimate companionship.
While it doesn’t quite achieve the level of profundity about life and love that it aims for, Kiss Me Like You Mean It is a funny and moving piece of work, and this production makes the most of its considerable charms.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
MARCUp Productions present
Kiss Me Like You Mean It
By Chris Chibnall
Director: Kate Shearman
Sound and Music Designer: Lore Burns
Lighting Designer: Kris Chainey
Set Designer: Bonnie Parker
Cast: Kirk Alexander, Rob Gaetano, Carrie Moczynski, Chloe Reid
The Owl and the Pussycat, Richmond
13 – 23 February
