ABOUT THE PLAY

 

They were innocent, you know. They did nothing wrong.

1953. In America Jakob and Esther Rubenstein, are betrayed and punished for an act of industrial espionage. Could thisbe the greatest miscarriage of justice of the twentieth century?

1975. New York. Matthew Maddison meets Anna Levi in front of an art gallery photograph of Jakob and Esther sharing one final kiss before they part. Young, radical and falling in love, together they seek out justice for the deeds

of over twenty years previous. 

Crossing the generations, THE RUBENSTEIN KISS explores the mysterious corridors of history, to reveal the anguish of a family, a quest for atonement and the truth about a crime that divided the world.

 

CAST & CREATIVE

 

Matthew - Martin Hutson

Anna - Louisa Clein

Esther Rubenstein - Samantha Bond

David Girshfeld - Alan Cox

Jakob Rubenstein - Will Keen

Rachel Girshfeld - Emily Bruni

Paul Cranmer - Gary Kemp

 

Author - James Phillips

Director - James Phillips

Designer - Liz Ascroft

Lighting - Hartley T. A. Kemp

Sound - Neil Alexander

 

QUOTES & REVIEWS

 

The Guardian

what is refreshing is to find a young dramatist unafraid of explicit emotion…..  it vividly captures the interlocking nature of sexual and ideological passion. Political idealists are traditionally seen as physical puritans. As played brilliantly by Will Keen, Jakob is both an air-puncturing dogmatist and a uxorious sensualist. And, while Samantha Bond subtly implies that Esther is the stronger partner, she also gives full rein to the character's passion for Puccini and popular song.

 

SHERIDAN MORLEY

THE ghost of the late Arthur Miller hangs heavily over The Rubenstein Kiss, a first play by James Phillips, who also directs for the Hampstead Theatre.

Like much of Miller, the play is concerned with mid-20th century American social and political history as filtered through a family in meltdown.

The meltdown is spectacular: the Rubensteins are in reality the Rosenbergs, Julius and Ethel, famous (and still to some, infa-mous) as the only American civilians executed in the USA for spying.

This was in 1953, in the aftermath of the Korean War when Senator McCarthy was at the height of his powers and the Red Menace was perceived as the greatest danger threatening America.

The Rosenbergs were at first villains but later recast as martyrs to McCarthyism. This was a perception which had to change drastically when a decade or two ago FBI files revealed they had given away secrets of A-bomb manufacture to the Russians.

Phillips once saw a photograph of the Rosenbergs kissing in a police van and his account of their story starts with a couple of their descendants meeting by chance in a gallery which is showing the photo.

It is an unlikely coincidence, and there are times in this three-hour play when one wishes the dramatist had chosen an easier route than cutting between the two time frames of their arrest in 1950 and their partial rehabilitation in 1975.

But Phillips has realised that in the end it comes down to what we will or cannot do for those we love.He has also directed his play with care, drawing from Samantha Bond and Will Keen as the Rubenstein’s and Martin Hutson and Louisa Clein as their researching relatives - performances of considerable power.

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