Or You Could Kiss Me is the new production from the acclaimed, Laurence Olivier Award-winning Handspring Puppet Company.

In the winter of 2036, in a shabby apartment in Port Elizabeth, two old men search for a way to say goodbye after a lifetime spent together. In the perfect summer of 1971, in a very different South Africa, their handsome younger selves search for the courage to fall in love. And poised halfway between these two stories – one imagined, one remembered – their real-life counterparts bear witness to both the beginning and ending of an incredible journey.

Or You Could Kiss Me is an intimate history of two very private lives, lived in extraordinary times. The production uses a bare stage, a handful of domestic props and the puppetry of Handspring Puppet Company, whose techniques were seen in the National Theatre and West End hit War Horse. 

Neil Bartlett, writer and director of Or You Could Kiss Me, is the former artistic director of the Lyric Hammersmith. His work also includes a production of Romeo And Juliet for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

For more about Or You Could Kiss Me at the National Theatre read the First Night Feature.