Or You Could Kiss Me by Neil Bartlett – Cottesloe Theatre ***

The Handspring Puppet Company returns to the National Theatre after their breathtaking work on War Horse but to much more intimate and subdued effect. In Or You Could Kiss Me the puppetry is, again, enthralling; the two male protagonists are represented by a pair of decrepit and diminutive dummies, with a very convincing shuffling gait, manipulated skilfully by an on-stage team. The intimacy of the stage-hands with the bodies of the old men echoes the closeness that Mr A and Mr B enjoyed as young men in love. Having met in 1971, the two have been together for sixty-seven years and the ‘little one’, Mr A, now finds himself caring for his larger companion who wheezes and splutters, suffering with the advanced stages of emphysema and memory loss. The men must come to terms with Mr B’s hospitalisation and imminent death which spells the end of their life-long bond which has already been threatened by Mr B’s failing memory.

The ensemble cast switch between portraying the two men in their youth and old age which can appear rather chaotic on stage but manages to maintain narrative coherence. Adjoa Andoh's role as master of ceremonies, narrator, nurse, and house-keeper allows the story to be told from a perspective beyond that of the two men, but her swift role changes and fragmented monologues leant confusion to what would have otherwise been a powerful and simple tale. The play also suffered from being too concerned with its temporal setting; for the two men to be in their late eighties and to have met in 1971, the present time has to be 2036, yet there is no visual evidence that we are situated in the future. Of course, this isn’t an important aspect of the play, and it would detract from the action to have this futuristic aspect foregrounded. But props are a major part of this production and the ‘old-fashioned’ answering machine and laptop are anachronistic and conspicuous because it. Yet the moving portrayal of an enduring love, imperilled first by the homophobia of 1970's South Africa and then by the ravages of old age, transcends the particular downfalls of this production.

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