How We're Making Out

"We have some rules... The first is no kissing."
-Ben, Addition: An Unconventional Love Story

I'll talk about this once and then not again, because it's not an issue for me outside of the five seconds way back at the beginning of the process when I wasn't sure how it was going to work out. I think every actor goes through periods of pause, just questioning their boundaries when something like this happens, and how far you're willing to go for the sake of theatre. All the time this happens, and the only time it's a big deal is when... someone decides that it should be a big deal.

So: there is kissing in the show. For whatever reason, I have not really done onstage kissing before, a couple of cheek pecks and motherly forehead kisses notwithstanding. I just never got the roles with the puckerin' up, and now I have one. (And there's a good amount! Seriously! There are some points in the script where the stage directions just become one steamy make-out after another, and... oh, dear, that description just sold ten more tickets, didn't it?) But my point is that for most actors, noting that there's kissing in a play would be like noting that there's dialogue, because ultimately it's a standard theatrical tool and that's that. Sure.

As I said, though, this isn't too much of an issue. I'm pretty sure Richard and Robbie have done smoochy-smoochy shows before, so it was just potentially me, and... well, I decided that it didn't have to be a big deal. Surprise surprise: it wasn't. I remember back at the beginning of the blocking rehearsals, Robbie and I were stepping through our motions with cheek-pecks, and Justen tactfully piped in with one of his notes that he'd like to see, "at some point— not necessarily today, but bear in mind at some point— a couple of those kisses might be in the vicinity of the mouth, perhaps?" (Translation: More tongue, boys!) Right there and then, Robbie and I took thirty seconds to make your standard intimacy agreement; agreeing that we're going to leave our outside stuff at the door, agreeing that in here we’ll go to whatever degree we need to make the show the best it can be, no embarrassment or anything… and that was that. And yeah, we both knew each other well enough at that point to know that we wanted to make the show the best it could be, and I'm sure we guessed the other wouldn't be embarrassed, but, well, this is one of those cases where it’s good just to articulate it. In any case, two minutes later we were lip-locking, and then one of us threw in the package-groping, and that's just scene one, so by the time we got to... huh, there's another five tickets right there. I should remember this marketing strategy.

But yeah, leaving your emotional baggage and hang-ups and preconceptions and whatever behind when you step into a character can be the hardest part of a process; once you get over that hurdle, then you’re in the clear and can go to levels not accessible before. I suppose for me it wasn't even an "I have to kiss boys!" thing, (which: …whatever. It's slightly stubblier, I guess? That's about it.) so much as it was just apprehension about the intimacy and the closeness we were going to have to get to. And since I’m a bit shyer in my personal life than my theatrical extravagance often lets on, and when you’re knocking on these doors with new, scary people, it can all seem a tad intimidating. (Though I suppose that can make the intimacy agreement part easier; not having a history with co-actors can make it easier to isolate the emotional stuff. Benefits either way. Also, calling our cast and crew 'scary' now would just send me into fits of helpless laughter.)

What is my point from all this? Enh, just an observation that, unlike many problems, theatrical awkwardness can be averted merely by everyone involved deciding that it isn't actually awkward. What I know is that we can all now approach the physical handling of each other in a very cavalier manner, and that's a good place to be in; light-hearted, recognizing in some minute way the potential weirdness of the situation and then shrugging it off because it's so not worth worrying about. Thus it can lead to Robbie and me having conversations about nailing the timing of unscripted entrance smooches, or how he can most expediently begin undressing me onstage, or "I feel when you grab me by my shirt-collar right here— like that— then it's a little too aggressive, so if you hoist me up by my waist like this" and yes, these all happened, and in the low-key, straightforward (no pun intended) manner that they needed to. It's like how porn stars probably operate. Thus, I am officially slightly more porn-star-y. Hey, I knew I was doing something with my life this summer.

David Johnston
Actor (Logan)