Inspired by the true story of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who were sent to the electric chair for allegedly passing US atomic secrets to the Russians, James Phillips’s award-winning play The Rubenstein Kiss is to have its regional première at Nottingham Playhouse.
The play is set during the McCarthyite hysteria of the Cold War era, with the shadow of suspicion falling on two radicals from a religious minority.
Director Zoë Waterman said, “I’m absolutely thrilled to be returning to Nottingham Playhouse to direct this regional première at a time when the thin line between idealism and extremism is once more tested, and as we try to imagine how these questions of personal and political morality will shape the next generation.”
The Rubenstein Kiss was James Phillips’s first play and premièred in 2005. It won the John Whiting Award and the TMA award for best new play. In May 2015, Phillips’s McQueen, about fashion designer Alexander McQueen, was performed at the St James Theatre, London.
The Rubenstein Kiss is part of the Conspiracy Season at Nottingham Playhouse and runs from Friday 2 until Saturday 17 October. Press night will be Tuesday 6 October. It then transfers to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford from 27 until 31 October.