THE BOYS ARE KISSING, directed by Lisa Spirling opens at Theatre503 on 17 January. “The audience is going have a really good time” she promises, “no one is being preached at, there are lots of key questions … ‘well, what would you do in those circumstances?’”  For Spirling, the show which features two sets of families with different ways of travelling through life, has “interesting provocations”.  It also has something that has become a signature of her work as a director: magical reality, in this instance, 2 cherubs who are the catalysts for questioning what the couples really think and whether they are genuinely comfortable with it. 

The show is also funny. “Comedy is the hardest thing to do and the writer, Zak Zarafshan, is really skilled at that” says Spirling.  “Audiences will laugh a lot, but it will also make people really think about things”. The play is holding space for “lots of different experiences we have as parents,” adds Spirling, “after all, parents don’t choose who their children are going to be friends with at school.”

Spirling first came across the writer, Zak Zarafshan, when he was on Theatre503’s seed commission, 503Five, funded by the Carne Trust.  He is writing as a queer person of dual heritage about his experiences in a heteronormative society: Conversations about erasure, about being the ‘other’, the only person of a different background.   “If we don’t know something,” says Spirling, “we’re potentially scared of it, or of getting it wrong”.  She sees theatre as being somewhere to have those conversations. The writer comes from the East Midlands, so his own experiences are based on living outside of London. “Zac isn’t trying to say one side is good, and one side is bad; rather, there are blind spots and how do we work through that?”

As a director, and as the Artistic Director of Theatre503, Spirling is conscious of her responsibility towards the writer. Theatre503 is a new writing venue and every play that is shown here is the writer’s first full production (and their only production at this venue). Spirling says there are “not enough opportunities for new writers” but that audiences are really “interested in the new”.  If the playwright gets lots of positive attention now, other opportunities are likely to arise.  “We aim to give the writer the most incredible experience” adds Spirling.  They are involved in the whole process and learn what it is to work on a play. “Hopefully they’ll be snapped up by other organisations such as the Royal Court, the National, Liverpool Playhouse, Northern Stage or the BBC” says Spirling “and from having this experience they won’t then be as intimidated by bigger projects.” With high productions values at Theatre503, there is a real sense of stepping up to the next level and with just 8 productions each year, writers are really cherished.   

As a director, Spirling is adamant that she is “not an auteur”. “I feel it’s much more like midwifery, how I can help birth the play and support it” she explains. “I’m enabling everyone in the room to do their best.”  She is making “thousands of choices” every day and another director would make different choices. “At the end of the day, the buck stops with me” admits Spirling, “I’m not a puppeteer, everything is evolving, I have a rigorous process which reveals lots of things”. Her vision for this play is to “give voice to the characters, to hear and see them on stage, fall in love with them, spend time with them, have our minds blown and hearts open to them.”

And those cherubs? Spirling is always looking for stories which we haven’t seen before. We’ve seen other shows featuring heteronormative and queer couples but not so many with cherubs.  “That’s why I’m here,” says Spirling “you can do anything with these divine entities coming from heavens causing havoc, it’s transformational, it’s glorious and hopefully the audience will go with it.”

“It will be a big theatrical hug, very silly, blow the cobwebs off, start the year with a thrill” says Spirling “it’s not morose, not grumpy, it’s a lot of fun.” 

Image: THE BOYS ARE KISSING (Photographer: Danny Kaan)

Theatre503 present the World Premiere of

THE BOYS ARE KISSING
Written by Zak Zarafshan

Directed by Lisa Spirling

Digital stream available here from 7 March (for one month)

Box office: www.theatre503.com / 020 7978 7040

Venue: Theatre503

Above the Latchmere

503 Battersea Park Road

London, SW11 3BW

When two 9-year-old boys kiss in the school playground of a small town, two sets of parents are told to ‘do something about it’ – but neither of them are entirely sure what.

Amira is sending inclusive children’s books to the school library, whilst her wife Chloe dreams of a kitchen island. Sarah is trying her best not to upset the Mum WhatsApp group, and her husband Matt just really wants to do the right thing – as soon as he can work out what that is. Luckily, here to guide our helpless humans are two cherubic winged guardians of the gays, summonsed to attend to a disturbance in the queer atmos and intervene only where strictly necessary… but where’s the fun in being an ethereal being if you can’t drop in and cause a scene wearing latex?