It might be a play about losers, but it was all about winning for director Sally Putnam.

So determined was she to direct the play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune that she challenged her producer/director partner in Mixed Salad Productions to a fight for the director's role.

Dave Simms did not argue but settled on being the sound man. After all, it was under her direction that he had scored rave reviews for his role as Hector in the company's acclaimed last production, The History Boys.

"The History Boys was such a hit and so big that it was hard to choose what play to follow up with," confides Putnam.

"There was a temptation to go for something safe, but Dave and I had both loved this play and, being a two-hander, it was completely different from The History Boys. It's a more dangerous play, the two actors are onstage all the time with nowhere to hide. And it is a wonderful script by Terrence McNally who wrote Love! Valour! Compassion!, the play with which we started the company."

Adam Tuominen and Theresa Sugars are performing the roles of Frankie, the waitress and Johnny, the short-order cook.

They are a couple of classic New York losers who have met at work. Johnny talks too much and is a hopeless romantic. Frankie is jaundiced after a broken marriage and disappointments in life. When the play opens, they are in bed together.

"This is when their relationship begins," explains Putnam. "The play takes place over six hours from their Saturday night into the dawn."

Frankie says "go". Johnny says "we can make this work". Debussy is playing on the midnight radio channel - Clair de Lune - which is important to the play in a number of ways, not just the music but the hours of the night, the moon in the window.

"Johnny actually phones the station to ask for it to play the most beautiful music ever written," Putnam explains.

When produced in the U.S., Frankie and Johnny ran for 15 months with Kathy Bates and Kenneth Walsh as the players. Its first Broadway production in 2002 starred Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci, the latter being nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. Rosie Perez and Joe Pantoliano later played the roles and the play was nominated for a Tony for Best Revival of a Play.

"The show is sharp with that New York energy and characters who tell New York stories," says Putnam.

"And it is very funny. Two Acts and lots of laughter.
"And, so far as we can ascertain, it has never been performed in Australia before."

Frankie and Johnny chop and dice in the kitchen

Theresa Sugars is about to play damaged goods.

After 10 years performing in Melbourne in everything from puppetry to circus, the VCA graduate has returned home to a bitter-sweet role as the waitress Frankie in the SA premiere of this gritty two-hander.

Terrence McNally adapted his acclaimed play for a popular film version that co-starred Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. Sugars will play opposite another exciting prospect in Adam Tuominen, directed by Sally Putnam.

"Frankie is a woman in her early thirties and she's kind of damaged goods," Sugars says.

"She's a very protective woman who's had a hard life. She's had her eye on the new chef Johnny for a few months, and he on her. Finally they go out on a date and end up in bed back at her studio apartment."

The twist in the play is about the aftermath of their sexual encounter.

"Unlike the movie, the sex is over when the play begins," she says.

"It's about what happens after the one-night stand where Frankie appears happy to leave it at that but Johnny wants more. He's very emotional and she's very guarded, so you have this push-pull conversation. There's a little bit of romance and a lot of sarcasm and dry humour."

Sugars says she can relate to the issues facing 30-somethings.

"It can be a pretty empty scene out there for modern relationships," she says.

"It reminds me of my circle of friends in Melbourne where it's common now for people in their thirties to be out there and dating, and going through that guessing game."

Sugars says Frankie has a short-order life.

"She's been through an abusive, controlling relationship with emotional baggage and physical scars for her trouble," she says.

"Frankie mistook obsession for love, she can't have children because of what happened. She's been happy to sit in her safe studio apartment and watch the world go by. But perhaps against her better judgement Johnny manages to get under her guard. Now he won't go and it's scaring the hell out of her."

Theresa Sugars as Frankie with Adam Tuominen as Johnny

Adelaide's acclaimed Mixed Salad Productions will present the South Australian premiere of Terrence McNally's acclaimed romantic comedy Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune from 16 - 31 October (with previews 14, 15 October) at the Holden Street Theatres, 34 Holden Street Hindmarsh.

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune opened off Broadway in 1987 starring Kathy Bates and Kenneth Welsh. Terrence McNally wrote the screenplay for the movie version in 1991 for Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer, and the play was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play when it re-opened on Broadway in 2002.

Auditions are being held during July for the key roles of Frankie and Johnny. Mixed Salad's much-admired director Sally Putnam will bring the story to life.

Sally said, 'Frankie and Johnny are confident, sexy and funny, so we're looking for accomplished actors who are ready for the challenge of playing a two-hander.'

Set in Frankie's Manhattan apartment, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune takes us through a night of passion between Frankie the waitress and Johnny the short-order cook who works in the same restaurant.

It is their first encounter and Frankie is hopeful that Johnny will now put on his clothes and depart. But Johnny has other ideas.

As moonlight streams into Frankie's Manhattan apartment, their sometimes touching, sometimes hilarious interplay hints at a relationship beyond a "one-night stand". But will it last once the sun comes up?

The reference to "Clair de Lune" in the title refers to a piece of music by Debussy which plays on the radio during their love-making.

Terrence McNally wrote Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune in 1982. Many of his plays have gay themes including Lips Together, Teeth Apart, a study of the irrational fears many people harbour towards homosexuals, Love! Valour! Compassion! which examines the relationships of eight gay men; and Some Men, a history of gay landmarks in America.

In 1997, he stirred up controversy with Corpus Christi, in which he portrayed Jesus and his disciples as homosexuals.