Southwark Playhouse – until 13 April 2019
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
3***
Esther and Julius Rosenberg were executed in 1953 for providing the Soviet Union with details of the US atomic bomb. Their story, and the photograph of them kissing after they were found guilty, is the inspiration for James Phillips’ play.
In a New York gallery in the 70s, Anna (Katie Eldred) and Matthew (Dario Coates) meet as they are both apparently admiring the photograph of the Rubenstein’s kissing. This photo is close to one of Marilyn Monroe, introducing lots of chat about Arthur Miller and Clark Gable. The two join forces in preparation for the Rubenstein Rally, a campaign seeking the couples’ pardon, but both have hidden motives that are revealed as the story unfolds.
Alongside this, we watch the Rubensteins in the 1940s and 50s, full of mysterious half sentences about meeting “friends” and making the right choices. Jakob (Henry Proffit) and Esther (Ruby Bentall) appear to lead innocuous lives, but their membership of the Communist party sees Jakob thrown out of the army. Ruby’s brother David (Sean Rigby) however, gets a military job out in the desert at Los Alamos. David’s girlfriend, and later wife, Rachel (Eva-Jane Willis) also goes to party meetings.
Matthew and Anna reveal that it was David’s testimony that sent the Rubensteins to the chair, but the play examines his motives and the shades of grey between right and wrong. The Rubensteins motives for not making a deal with the FBI are also highlighted.
The cast do a fine job, especially Katie Eldred as the conflicted Anna, but the traverse staging means that they are basically pacing up and down for most of the play, with the only truly intimate moment coming when Esther and Jacob are in the prison cell alone. Phillips wants this play to be a modern Crucible so much it hurts. The references to Miller and John Proctor’s noble choices overegg the pudding and it all gets overly melodramatic. There are some lovely moments of characterisation and revelation from the cast that really didn’t need to be as verbose. This is an extraordinary story, and the moral questions about whether ideas are more important than lives are important, but there are at least 30 minutes that can be shaved off this play.
A talented cast and a fascinating and relevant story, but this kiss lingers slightly too long.