“… this play isn’t a great gay play – it’s a great play. The STC’s 2026 production is exceptional.”
Julia Newbould
5 Stars
Venue: Sydny Theatre Company
Drama Theatre ,Sydney Opera House
Dates: Until March 14
The Normal Heart had quite an impact on me when I first saw it in 1989. AIDS was at peak crisis during that time; perhaps by then we knew how it spread but it was nonetheless terrifying, and not just for the gay community. There were the grim reaper ads on tv and while Australia was ahead of the world in providing counselling and public health services, there was fear and a ghetto-ising of the affected community, with the epicentre of treatments being in the city’s inner east.
I remember the play and the power of its political statements. The monologue to government by Dr Brookner played now by Emma Jones, and in 1989 by Sandy Gore, was incredibly powerful. Jones’s delivery was given a spontaneous round of applause from the audience.
The AIDS epidemic was a fertile area for art. Superb examples are The Normal Heart, Angels in America, plus And the Band Played On. The Normal Heart was the first one I saw and I thought it was amazing. The power of a play which was so current and relevant set ablaze my love for theatre.
This time around I ventured into the theatre with a little trepidation. Would it stand up to the play I remembered?
Indeed it did. Admittedly it was different seeing it this time around. I knew the plot, the ending, and the AIDS story. However, the characters were renewed for me, and I became more focused on them rather than the narrative.
STC’s The Normal Heart combines a great play with a great cast and great director. Each member of the cast fed off one another to provide an inspired ensemble production. Mitch Butel was exceptional as gay activitist Ned Weeks (based on playwright Larry Kramer). His performance was nuanced, generous, and truly captured the importance of the character’s need to fight. Emma Jones as Dr Brookner was terrific. Her passionate delivery of the monologue delivered to the funding body was perfection. Musical star Tim Draxl as the closeted Bruce Niles shows himself extremely versatile and well cast opposite Butel in their political fights. Keiynan Lonsdale as Tommy is a delight as the peace maker between the two. He brings a lightness to the stage.
Part of the play is demonstrating that the gay scene is nuanced and made up of different characters with different viewpoints even through the same issues. As Ned’s lover Felix, Nicholas Brown shows strength, fear, and love.
Designer Jeremy Allan has done a great job of the set, utilising the full stage as an active environment with the cast remaining on stage for most of the action – just moving offstage to different rooms or areas. Like a busy hospital ward, beds are wheeled around, desks are brought in and out, and different rooms are created quickly by the well-choreographed fast-moving cast.
The Normal Heart opens with a dance scene with New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle. This music is the motif throughout the play and reoccurs at different moments. There are also musicians on stage accompanying the action – a cello and a piano – played by Rowena McNeish and Michael Griffiths. The music was a great addition to the drama, giving it another layer to build the mood.
In 1986 when the play was written, AIDS was a death sentence. At the time, you saw the Kaposi’s sarcoma lesions on someone and you knew they were infected. People were frightened, dying alone, shunned by family, friends and their colleagues. Research was occurring but the cure was taking time. And there were fights over funding, research bodies, and the public was only slowly being informed of the extent of the crisis – particularly in the US.
For me, a university student having this deadly virus out there was a frightening prospect. For those who didn’t live through the time, or experience the fear, it’s hard to imagine the effects.
This play doesn’t address this aspect – but instead focuses on the political fighting for more access to funding for medical research into helping patients and finding a cure. And for the mainstream press to give appropriate attention on a disease that was killing hundreds of people in New York.
The Normal Heart is classified as a gay play but to me that is selling it short. Larry Kramer draws a comparison between politicians and editors refusing to do anything about AIDS when they first hear people are dying, with the US politicians and media knowing about the German concentration camps but burying that information. Kramer says in both cases, more could have been done and lives saved if only they’d chosen to acknowledge and broadcast the reality.
There are many areas where governments choose to ignore issues that are affecting their citizens until it is no longer feasible – like COVID for example, and wars.
Larry Kramer isn’t a good gay playwright, he’s a good playwright.
And this play isn’t a great gay play – it’s a great play.
The STC’s 2026 production is exceptional. It’s worth seeing for those who lived through it and for those who didn’t and want to know what it was like.
This was a truly excellent production.
5 stars
Photos by Neil Bennett
Julia Newbould, Theatre Now
