[3] The production starred Vinette Robinson as Woman and Jack Gordon as Man, who had previously played a minor role in the 2009 horror film Heartless which was written and directed by Ridley.

[6] The play's original production was met with mostly positive reviews, with praise going to the performances of Jack Gordon and Vinette Robinson, the direction of David Mercatali, as well as Ridley's writing for its use of imagination, poetic language and ambition.

Seldom has sexual love been explored on stage with such ferocious honesty, brutality and melting tenderness.”[7] Susannah Clapp for The Observer praised the production for its acting, writing that “Jack Gordon and Vinette Robinson should make their names in this.

They swirl around each other as if the stage were a jacuzzi.” She also praised Ridley's use of dialogue for imaginatively “paint[ing] pictures of passion… It is wild, obvious, flailing, babyish, luscious”[8] Neil Dowden of Exeunt Magazine praised the production for the performances – “there is real chemistry in the acting” – along with the writing: “Tender Napalm shows Ridley at his most poetic, concocting a fractured, shimmering sequence of video-game-style images to illuminate the primal feelings between a man and a woman struggling together in love.”[9] Aleks Sierz for The Arts Desk wrote a glowing review, declaring that “[Ridley’s] first new play in three years, which opened last night, breaks fresh ground and represents an imaginative leap of the gleaming dark of his wild, wild imagination… As the pounding music sets the scene, and both actors start to flex their muscles, you immediately feel the beads of sweat gathering on your brow.

The underlying warmth takes the danger out of the pair’s flights of fancy, but their words and actions remain too opaque to let you in emotionally.” However, the magazine still wrote that despite its flaws the production was “an unforgettable 80 minutes.”[13] Dominic Cavendish of The Daily Telegraph however awarded the play only two stars.

While lauding Ridley's ambition – “I won’t deny that this is a tricksy, inventive, risk-taking piece - Ridley is a clever man, and he likes to play with theatrical fire” – he criticised the writing for being overblown: “For all its conceptual neatness, though, there’s a slapdash, jejune and over-ripe texture to the script… a rampaging, hormonal quality may be part of the point… yet all the hyperactive fabulation shreds our capacity to care.”[14] Either way the play was a success and was nominated for a variety of awards and featured on a number of 'best theatre of the year' lists, Including for Time Out London,[15] The Observer[16] and The Guardian[17] In July 2011 acclaimed actor Ben Daniels wrote an article for The Guardian describing Jack Gordon's and Vinette Robinson's acting as “the best performance I’ve ever seen” saying that “the actors only had each other, and the way they worked together was glorious.