Portland’s remarkable Third Rail Repertory Theatre is opening its fifth season with the American premiere of “Kiss Me Like You Mean It,” a contemporary British play that Portlanders are lucky Third Rail found.
“We’ve been chewing on this for seven years now,” said Director Slayden Scott Yarbrough, who is also Third Rail’s artistic director, on opening night. That’s a claim that’s easy to believe, as “Kiss Me”—in execution as much as in spirit—is near-to-perfect.
Never have I seen a play so absolutely deserving of production. The script is sharp, funny, tear-jerking and strangely relevant to Oregon politics; a story meant to be told onstage but that bothers to incorporate the details of a smart screenplay, like which song is on the radio or in a character’s head. “Kiss Me” runs over two hours, but the audience is engaged for its entirety, even forgetting they’re in an auditorium, and the intermission—usually a polite and somewhat random break in a dragging plotline—commences after such a well-developed cliffhanger that more than half the audience couldn’t bear to leave their seats.
Though Yarbrough and the playwright, Chris Chibnall, contributed immensely to this play’s success, the cast of only four actors carry the production to its heights. Challenged to speak in the Machester dialect (Mancunian), which is certainly not an easy English accent to master, the American cast members showcase varying degrees of linguistic aptitude and a hell of a lot of dedication; the result of what was surely a series of dialect coaching sessions is pretty darn successful.
Isaac Lamb is fabulous as Tony, an affable and bumbling 20-something who feels compelled to take a big chance and seize what might be a “pivotal moment” in his life’s narrative. From the opening scene, in which a slightly drunken Tony bursts out of an apartment party and onto the patio, dancing and singing along to “Sex Bomb” as it plays inside, Lamb is endearing, compelling and impossible to look away from.
Tony’s love interest, Ruth, is played by first-time Third Rail performer Lauren Bair with all of the comedic timing and sass you’d expect from her five-inch wedges and penchant for cigarettes. Bair is extremely well-cast as Ruth, and the sexual tension between her and Lamb is as thick and believable as their Mancunian accents.
Though the first half of “Kiss Me” focuses on Tony and Ruth, revealing moments with the second, much older couple—Don and Edie—do occur; in the second half of the play, the focus switches and Tony and Ruth become more minor (though still beloved) characters. The story that was founded on good humor and the infinite spirit of youth and possibility thus develops into an immensely revealing, ultimately romantic and hope-filled dramatic comedy that feels effortlessly intimate and special. Brian Thompson is excellent as Don, as is Jacklyn Maddux as Edie—together, they spin what may be the sweetest all-night drinking game to ever grace the stage.
The set is elaborate and the props and costuming are spot-on, but it is beyond a doubt Lighting Designer Don Crossley who most contributes to the production’s realism with outstanding recreations of moonlight and dawn. Perhaps Portland’s most talented lighting designer, Crossley very much belongs on Third Rail’s star team.
Each of these names is so synonymous with talent and charm that any Portland production they are involved in is sure to be worth seeing. As an ensemble, they are not to be missed.
This script is the most recent play from Chibnall, a talented but relatively under-the-radar British playwright who lately has focused on writing and producing television. His latest projects include the Starz network’s “Camelot” and ITV1’s “Law & Order: UK.”
This show is easily as fast-paced, entertaining and empowering as a great film; I left Third Rail’s “Kiss Me” feeling that this is what theater—and maybe life—is all about. ?