Photo - Neil Bennett
Larry Kramer's 1985 play is an urgent, visceral piece of writing - an expression of rage over the inaction of various levels of government and media and the gay political response to the AIDS virus. Kramer centres himself as protagonist and storyteller, as he gets dragged into gay politics at its most urgent moment, and the inevitable personal consequences as he clashes with those around him who he sees as compromised or inactive. It's true that Kramer does lack sufficient distance to give a fully rounded version of himself or those around him, but he captures a time and a moment with pure "I was there" energy. In this production, directed by Dean Bryant, played in an institutional room (designed by Jeremy Allen) that looks like many of the hospitals, medical centres and community buildings where the activism was born, it feels very much like being in the heat of the moment when it all happened.
Mitchell Butel leads the cast as Kramer's self-portrait, Ned Weeks, a complex mix of activist, seer, lover, sentimentalist, cynic and holy terror. We feel exactly why he's like this with a few quick memories of his history with his straight brother, and we ride along with him all the way to the inevitable conclusion of those battles. Alongside him are Tim Draxl as the compromised and compromising Bruce, eager to make inways without a war, Keynan Lonsdale as Tommy, the volunteer whose life becomes taken over by the crisis, Nicholas Brown as Felix, the partner who bears the brunt of a lot of Ned's rants but stays anyway, Emma Jones as the doctor who tries to keep things just-the-facts until it becomes too overwhelming to do that any more and she joins in the rage.
The bigger stage of the Drama theatre and some clunky scene transitions means that this falls behind the Everyman Theatre production from a decade ago in the loss of intimacy, but this is still a strong production of a major work from a major company.
No comments:
Post a Comment