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? …