Review - The Rubenstein Kiss at Southwark Playhouse

Ethel Rosenberg appeared as a posthumous character in Tony Kushner's Angels in America, as it was Roy Cohn who had prosecuted their case; so there's already a theatrical pedigree to telling the story of her and her husband Julius, who were convicted for providing nuclear secrets to Russia and both executed by electric chair in 1953.

James Phillips's gripping debut play The Rubenstein Kiss, which premiered in 2005, fictionalises them as Esther and Jakob, so it is not intended as documentary; but it frees the playwright to provide a detailed, poignant portrait of a family's internal tensions, idealism and betrayal.

Now receiving its first London production since its Hampstead premiere fourteen years ago, Joe Harmston's terrific revival is alternately precise and anguished. Phillips's clever folding of past and present - as the couple's son and his cousin meet and excavate the family history - unfolds the action like a mystery to be solved.

It's also a story of sensuality, sexuality and deceit. The palpable attraction between Jakob (Henry Proffit) and Esther (Ruby Bentall) is made clear; so is their betrayal by her brother David (Sean Rigby) and partner (Eva-Jane Willis).  

As the younger generation investigating this legacy, Dario Coates and Katie Eldred (the latter in her professional debut) are just as urgent and conflicted. There's also fine, even sympathetic, support from Stephen Billington as an investigating FBI agent.  

The play is quite long (each act runs well over an hour), but it repays the attention; Harmston's production, played out in the clean, minimal lines of Sean Cavanagh's set with the audience arranged on either side of it, brings us close to the actors and sharply engaged with them.

The Rubenstein Kiss is at Southwark Playhouse until 13th April.