REVIEW: Kiss Me Like You Mean It, Bench Theatre, The Spring Arts, Havant (From Daily Echo)
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REVIEW: Kiss Me Like You Mean It, Bench Theatre, The Spring Arts, Havant
9:27am Wednesday 28th September 2011 in Curtain Call By Karen Robson
FOR his debut production at Bench Theatre director Callum West has chosen this funny, tender and extremely touching play by Chris Chibnall.
It follows two very different couples partying on the same night: Tony and Ruth, who meet for the first time at the party, and upstairs residents Don and Edie, who have been together for fifty years.
The piece captures perfectly the fragile uncertainty of first meetings and the comfortable familiarity born from years spent together.
Callum West has rendered the tone and pacing of the play, shifting the mood from light to darker, hilarious to heartbreaking, with great precision.
He is aided by a fantastic cast who have created such real and believable characters that it becomes easy to forget they are acting.
The play is blessed with some fine dialogue and the speeches made by Tony in act 1 and by Edie in act 2 were outstanding moments. Never has bad language been used to such comic effect.This is a worthy addition to the Bench Theatre repetoire.
