• Advertise
  • Request Review
  • Write for Us
  • Privacy
  • Login

Theatre Bubble

The UK Theatre Network

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Reviews
  • News
  • Features
  • Spotlight
  • Opinions
  • Interviews
  • Guides
  • Ed Fringe

Kiss of the Spiderwoman at Menier Chocolate Factory

March 23, 2018 by Esme Mahoney Leave a Comment

Review of: Kiss of the Spiderwoman

Reviewed by: Esme Mahoney
Rating:
4
On March 23, 2018
Last modified:March 23, 2018

Summary:

An ephemeral experience that transcends its own boundaries of space, form and time

More Details

Since its publication in 1976 as a ground-breaking, stylistically complicated novel, Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig has been adapted into several forms, including of course the iconic 1985 film starring William Hurt and Raul Julia. Despite its many manifestations, it remains wildly intangible, an ephemeral experience that transcends its own boundaries of space, form and time.

The space is artfully indicative of a prison: there is a pervasive, peeling dirtiness, and several worn blue cell doors range along the walls above a walkway. Their blank, barred windows seem to stare out across the acting space and into the audience in a strange mirroring effect: they almost become secondary spectators, as though this production is staged in the round rather than on two sides. The acting area is a combination of small tiled cell-space surrounded by heaps of tumbling rubble and it seemed suspended in the centre of the room, somehow, as if it were a hologram that might disappear at any moment. This effect was heightened by the excellent use of projections, which crackled along the back walls in a grainy black and white wash of stories, or more accurately, memories of stories, as Molina narrates the plots of Hollywood movies to pass the time with his cellmate, Valentin.

The two characters that find themselves sharing a cell could not be more different – Molina a homosexual window-dresser, in prison for “gross indecency”; Valentin a political prisoner, jailed and tortured for violently defying the regime. Puig himself wrote that these two characters are “two sides of the same struggle for human dignity”, and this truth rings through in this particular production. Samuel Barnett’s utter magnificence as Molina cannot be overstated: his was a fully embodied performance, a cascade of expression, emotion and significance that was breath-taking to behold. His Molina was camp and effeminate, at times nervy and fizzing with a barely controlled hysterical energy: yet, beneath this one sensed a spine of pure steel, a ribbon of strength and nobility running through the character.

Declan Bennett, as the revolutionary Valentin, only began to match this magnificence about half-way through the play. Up until this point, his portrayal of a classic stoic masculinity – the strong and silent type – was strong and silent to the point of being quite wooden. When he began to open up and express more in the mid- and later stages of the production, I felt perhaps that this had been an intentional parody, an expression of his being bound in the unforgiving straight-jacket of a masculine stereotype. Either way, the disappointing first impression slowly gave way to a beautiful interpretation of character: Bennett’s Valentin flourishes through the rest of the play, and he ends in positively iridescent form. There were moments of real emotional connection, such as the dictation of a letter to the woman Valentin loves, which was exquisitely moving and executed with such an intensity of truth and desperation that I felt Bennett transcended the moment of the role and became an everyman of human suffering.

The actors were aided by, for the most part, a gorgeously written script, stumbling only on some trite interpolations, and the occasional modern clanger such as “you took one for the team”. There were also a few totally unnecessary expletives thrown in which only served to draw the emphasis out of the following words and which were uttered with such a lack of commitment from the actors that one couldn’t help but feel that they too thought these unnecessary peppering. These failings were more than made up for, however, by the woozy descriptions of the films: vivid, nostalgic and glamourous, they combined with the projections and the engagement of the actors to create a total immersion in the exotic worlds of the movies.

Kiss of the Spider Woman is an exploration of the essentials of humanity, the nobility to be found in the most basic of human interactions: humiliation is overcome through human relationships, through an acceptance of the body, through a refusal to fall into learned patterns of disgust and rejection. It is quite simply a purifying experience, and as water cascades onto the stage in the final moments of the production, we feel that we have witnessed something miraculous, and emerge into the night, our minds busy with new and poignant ideas

Esme Mahoney

Author: Esme Mahoney

Actor and Director. Drama Centre London graduate @dramacentreldn. Writer and Reviewer
T: Twitter

Filed Under: Featured, Review Tagged With: kiss of the spiderwoman, Menier Chocolate Factory

Join the discussion Cancel reply

NEWS / Living Record Festival of digital arts announces programme

Living Record Festival is a month-long Digital Arts Festival curating and presenting over 40 original pieces from a range of [Read More]

INTERVIEW / Open Bar on A ChristMESS CAROL

Tell us about Open Bar Theatre and also how you came about and how the name came about. OBT: Open Bar [Read More]

NEWS / Ayomide Adegun awarded The Luke Westlake Scholarship 2020

22 year old South Londoner Ayomide Adegun is currently in his 2nd year of the BA Acting course at Royal [Read More]

NEWS / Late Night Staring at High Res Pixels announced

A new play repurposed for online viewing from the creative team behind Scrounger, and the first of the Finborough Theatre’s [Read More]

NEWS / Crimes Against Christmas becomes an audio advent calendar

Typically at this time of year theatre company New Old Friends would have just finished an Autumn tour and be [Read More]

Top Posts & Pages

  • 10 Tips to Help You Prepare for Your Reality TV Auditions
  • Writing the Perfect Press Release
  • 5 Stage Elements to Consider for a Rousing Theatrical Production
  • Katy Owen: Auditioning for Oxford School of Drama
  • Katy Owen: LAMDA Audition (First Round)
  • Boudica at Shakespeare's Globe
  • A Streetcar Named Desire- A cry of pain- Young Vic
  • Forced Entertainment announce new award in memory of Huw Chadbourn
  • Katy Owen: How to Apply to Drama Schools*
  • How to Applying for Arts Grants and Funding
  • Esme Mahoney

    Esme Mahoney
    Author

  • March 23rd, 2018
  • comment iconNo Comments
  • Facebook11TweetLinkedInEmail

    Newsletter

    Enjoyed what you've read? Get even more great content directly to your inbox - Completely Free

    About Theatre Bubble

    Theatre Bubble is the news, review and blogging site created by Blue Pie Media and run by a dedicated team of outstanding editors and writers: we're always looking for new contributors - to find out more click here.

    Contact Us

    News: news@theatrebubble.com
    Reviews: reviews@theatrebubble.com
    Website: webmaster@theatrebubble.com

    Privacy Policy

    Copyright © 2021 · Blue Pie Media

    Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

    Email sent!