Phoenix drops the ball with Stage Kiss

Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl, Phoenix Players, Directed by André Dimitrijevic and Rachel Worton, Gladstone Theatre

If Sarah Ruhl’s occasionally funny comedy, Stage Kiss, is to work in performance, it needs more than the decidedly inexpert treatment meted out to it by Ottawa’s Phoenix Players.

To be sure, there’s at least potential in Ruhl’s quirky reworking of the play-with-a-play convention. A new stage piece is in rehearsal and two former lovers who haven’t seen each other for 20 years have been cast in the lead roles. Kissing on stage reignites their passion — or does it, really? Perhaps it’s mere illusion, like the play and production that have triggered it. Who knows?

What is certain is that it is causing chaos among more recent players in their lives — like daughters and husbands. And when the reborn lovers find themselves working together in yet another awful play, tougher truths about this relationship begin to surface.

Backstage plays attract theatre companies like moths to a lampshade — hence, the surprising number of productions that Stage Kiss is getting. But it’s no Twentieth Century or Noises Off or Kiss Me Kate. That it needs tender loving care in production was evident the other night at the Gladstone when   decent laugh lines passed unnoticed because of a failure to support them in performance with aware and responsive  characterizations. A script which includes two different plays within a larger play surely requires a reasonable attempt by its key cast members — Sandy Wynne who portrays “She” and Paul Behncke who plays “He” — to assume different identities with some degree of conviction as the evening proceeds. Instead, apart from some half-hearted attempts at parody, a jaunty and unconvincing brittleness dominates all aspects of their contribution. Are we really expected to believe that these are real people?

The production, which lists Andre Dimitrijevic and Rachel Worton as co-directors, flounders badly in its attempt find a viable style or to give proceedings some degree of narrative urgency. The best moments probably come from Solly Balbaa whose bumbling work as an earnest young stand-in reveal some sound comic instincts. But in general, this production is a lacklustre effort from people who should know better. On opening night there was a comic pratfall so awkwardly staged that it was embarrassing.

 

Directors: André Dimitrijevic and Rachel Worton

Set: Anthony Neary

Sound: Dan Litchinsky

Lighting: Mark MacDonald

Costumes: Helen Visbach

 

Cast:

A Woman/She…………………………….…Sandy Wynne

A Man/He……………………………………Paul Behncke

A Director……………………………………John Cook

Kevin…………………………………………Solly Balbaa

Husband/Harrison…………………………….Craig Miller

Angela/Millie/Maid…………………………..Laura Dawn McCue

Millicent/Laurie………………………………Tanja Puchala