Larry Kramer’s play The Normal Heart, a devastating and galvanising work about the first four years of the Aids crisis, retains its urgency in a new Sydney production. Dean Bryant’s staging, now at the Sydney Opera House after a 2022 debut, moves the historical document into a new era of protest and unrest.
The play debuted off-Broadway in 1985, during the height of the crisis, with a set covered in news stories and names of the dead. Now, the production speaks to contemporary issues, including police response to protests against the Israeli president’s visit. The play examines inaction and the use of voice and influence in crisis.
Mitchell Butel reprises his role as the abrasive Ned Weeks, inspired by Kramer himself. Ned is urged by Dr Emma Brookner (Emma Jones) to draw attention to the disease and ask gay men to stop having sex. His approach contrasts with the subtler Bruce Niles (Tim Draxl), who fears being outed.
Bryant focuses on personal emotional truths, with the play’s soul in the relationship between Ned and his lover Felix (Nicholas Brown), and his fraught bond with his brother Ben (Mark Saturno). The production uses brief transitions and a score by Hilary Kleinig, featuring New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle.
The cast is uneven but each actor delivers standout scenes. The play’s title comes from WH Auden’s poem: “We must love one another or die.” Ned’s agitation for change, marred by his polarising personality, culminates in his expulsion from the group he co-founded.
