KISS MARRY KILL ⚝⚝⚝⚝⚝
Stone Nest , London
Kiss Marry Kill is a fantastic new play currently on at London’s Stone Nest performance space. Previously the legendary Limelight club, Stone Nest’s cavernous dark and gloomy Victorian chapel is the perfect setting for this provocative queer prison drama based on an amazing true story, and now on tour at various chapels around the UK.
Jay (Dauda Ladejobi) and Paul (Graham Mackay-Bruce) are both serving life sentences for unrelated homophobic murders. Paul is already serving his sentence when Jay joins his cell block and he takes newbie Jay under his wing, supplying him with contraband goods in return for sexual favours. Initially repulsed by the sexual favours, Jay gradually begins to relax into the situation. He is actually in the process of getting married to his girlfriend Kerry (Lady Lykez) and has a new-born baby boy. His contact with them is, of course, restricted to prison visits. Jay’s relationship with Paul develops into a romance and they eventually decide to get married in prison, much to the consternation of their fellow prisoners and wardens, (the great Morgan Archer, Frank Skully and Dean Statham), as well as Kerry. Their wedding means that they will be separated and live on separate prison wings, only seeing each-other on visiting days, adding to the complexity of the situation.
Directed by Terry O’Donovan and Daphna Attias. and produced by Dante or Die, Kiss Marry Kill is up-close British theatrical story-telling at its best. Thorny, heavy, repressive, testosterone-fuelled prison life is thoughtfully brought to the stage with an impressive, authentic attention to detail. This includes the use of real prison beds acquired from London’s Holloway Prison and the casting of three ex-prisoners in the play, including a queer ex-prisoner. This is probably the most macho cast I’ve seen on stage, although the grubby, sweaty manliness is complemented by the presence of the excellent rapper Lady Lykez. She plays a prison warder as well as Kerry, and brilliantly raps her way through various tracks in the show. The handsome cast brutally fight, dance, love and sing their way through a very intimate, thought-provoking, passionate 90 minutes that energetically examines the complexities of queer love, hate, sexuality and redemption. A must-see.
Until 27 April - Stone Nest, London 30 April – 4 May - The Concert Hall, Reading 10 – 12 May - Halle St Peters, Manchester 16 – 19 May – The Great Hospital, Norwich
Queerguru’s Contributing Editor Ris Fatah is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant (when he can be bothered) who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah
P.S. You may also like to check our Queerguru’s interview when we talk with two of the three writers, James Baldwin and Terry O’Donovan on the eve of a National Tour around the UK performing in chapels https://queerguru.com/queerguru-talks-with-the-writers-of-kiss-marry-kill-a-remarkable-queer-prison-romance-based-on-a-true-story/
Labels: 2024, Dante or Die, Kiss Marry Kill, prison drama, review, Ris Fatah, Terry O'Donovan, theatre
