Hampstead Theatre has announced full casting for the UK premiere of Stage Kiss, Sarah Ruhl’s celebrated romantic comedy.
The production opens at Hampstead Theatre on 8 May and runs until 13 June, directed by Blanche McIntyre.
The cast is led by MyAnna Buring and Patrick Kennedy, who play She and He, two actors with a complicated past reunited as romantic leads in a forgotten 1930s melodrama.
They are joined by Toto Bruin, Oliver Dimsdale, James Phoon, Rolf Saxon and Jill Winternitz.
Stage Kiss received critical acclaim during its New York premiere in 2014 and was written by Tony Award nominee and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl.
Ruhl said: “Most plays I’ve written have some kissing in them. And when I come to work, sit behind a table, and watch people kiss for a job, knowing that the actors have also come to work, and are now kissing for a job… well, over the years, I’ve thought: how strange. And so, I wanted to write a play about the phenomenon of kissing on stage. In a way, it’s a love letter to theatre and all the actors I’ve ever worked with and I’m delighted to be working with Blanche McIntyre again at Hampstead Theatre.”
The play begins as a sweeping 1930s New York melodrama, before revealing itself to be a modern-day rehearsal room where art and life collide.
As opening night approaches, the line between performance and reality becomes increasingly blurred for its two leading actors.
The production marks Blanche McIntyre’s second collaboration with Sarah Ruhl, following the Off West End Award-winning Letters from Max at Hampstead Downstairs.
Design is by Robert Innes Hopkins, with lighting by Oliver Fenwick, sound design by Gregory Clarke and music by Grant Olding.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
