On paper, this looks like a very interesting, streamed play with a stellar cast including Jodie Prenger (A Taste of Honey, Calamity Jane) Matt Henry (wonderful as Lola in Kinky Boots) and Layton Williams (Billy Elliot and Jamie in Everybody’s talking about Jamie). They are genuine West End stars who can engage an audience and sell tickets. Written in 1999 by Jonathan Harvey who has gone on to write for Tracey Ullman, Beautiful People, Coronation Street and Gimme Gimme Gimme, it deals with pain and tension within families and friendships of dealing with HIV and AIDS as the height of the disease. It’s revival now, as newspaper reports suggest the elimination of deaths from AIDS by 2030, is perhaps a reminder during the COVID pandemic of how it feels dealing with fear and uncertainty of an unseen deadly enemy. It is restaged after the acclaimed series by Russel T Davies It’s a Sin became such a hit this year on Channel 4 dealing with the impact of HIV/AIDS on a group of gay men between 1981 and 1991.
Set around the time of the death of Princess Diana in 1997 it deals with the aftermath of the death of Danny (Nathan McMullen) from AIDS as he waits in limbo on a step ladder in some staging post on the way to Heaven and then through a series of flashbacks and forward views reveals the relationships and impact on those closest to him, his mother, his boyfriend Connor, Connor’s brother Lee, and his best mate Lana. The script includes what now feels like dated forgotten references to Harry Secombe and Highway TV Show, comedian Dave Allen, The Wombles and Carry on Screaming but is also peppered with bad language, drug-taking and adult themes that on TV and in Cinema would surely carry at preshow warning or certification.
