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Collaborating on The Cord: Dr Jess Heron & Bijan Sheibani

Thu 25 Apr 2024 | Our Plays, The Bigger Picture

Dr Jess Heron, founder and CEO of National perinatal mental health charity, Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP), and acclaimed writer and director, Bijan Sheibani, collaborated on research for his new play The Cord, that follows a family struggling to navigate the postpartum period. “APP, which began as a research panel, now supports women and families…

BUSHCYLING: How we’re improving our sustainability, one stage set at a time

Thu 23 Nov 2023 | Our Plays, The Bigger Picture

When you watch a new show at the Bush, you’re seeing a brand new set every time… or are you?  Putting on a production can use a lot of resources: from energy for lights to purchasing costumes and furniture to the timber needed to build sets and scenery, so we try to reuse materials as…

“I keep coming back to sex and death – but, you know, in a fun way.” Meet Marcelo Dos Santos

Thu 02 Nov 2023 | Our People, Playwriting

With a day to go until Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen bursts onto our stage, we caught up with writer Marcelo Dos Santos to get the inside scoop on his inspirations for the play and how it feels to, as he says, “put it all out there”. “I’m inspired by…

Landmark Gay Plays #3 Kiss of the Spiderwoman

Thu 23 Feb 2017 | Our Plays, The Bigger Picture

This month we’re looking back on some of the best gay plays ever made in honour of the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales and LGBT History Month in the UK.

Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)

by Manuel Puig

Manuel Puig (1932-90), an Argentinian playwright and novelist, wanted to convey an objective view of homosexuality in his novel 1976 novel El beso de la mujer araña. It’s a harrowing story of persecution written in an experimental style without a narrator and with footnotes on the psychology of homosexuality. Set in Villa Devoto prison, Buenos Aires, it depicts the alliance of two cellmates – a gay man, Molina, and a Marxist revolutionary, Valentin.

simon callow in kiss of the spider woman, 1985, photo Nobby Clark

Simon Callow in Kiss of the Spiderwoman (1985) Photo: Nobby Clark

The stage adaption of Kiss of the Spiderwoman was written in 1983 and premiered at the Bush in 1985 as an English translation by Allan Baker. The play is interrupted by off-stage scenes and voice overs.

Simon Callow (Molina) and Mark Rylance (Valentin) starred in its first production. Simon Stokes, now Artistic Director of Theatre Royal Plymouth, directed. It went on to become a hit film starring William Hurt who won an Oscar for Best Actor for his role as Molina – the first to be awarded to an American for the portrayal of a homosexual. It became a musical in 1992.

Original Production Credits (1985)

Designer: Robin Don

Lighting Designer: Paul Denby

Sound Designer: Bart Cossee

Set Builder:  Rosie Wakley

Production photos by Nobby Clark

Last blog, last week: Angels in America

Interested in LGBT lives on stage? Come see Hir by Taylor Mac or Of Kith and Kin by Chris Thompson in 2017.