About the Play:

The Normal Heart was one of Royal National Theatre of Britain's top 100 plays of the 20th century.

The Normal Heart has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues and Male/Male Scenes.

The Normal Heart is a full-length drama by Larry Kramer. Produced to acclaim in New York, London, and Los Angeles, this largely autobiographical play chronicles one man's journey to bring attention to the slow response to the AIDS epidemic as he struggles to create support for himself – and his illness. The Normal Heart is a central work to the history of the LGBTQ movement and its theater.

The Normal Heart, set during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, is the impassioned story of Ned Weeks, a gay activist enraged at the indifference of public officials and the gay community. While trying to save the world from itself, he confronts the personal toll of AIDS when his lover dies of the disease. A searing drama about public and private indifference to the AIDS plague and one man's lonely fight to awaken the world to the crisis. Originally published in 1985 and celebrated in a passionate and eloquent 2011 Broadway revival, this definitive edition of the play features an updated version of the play, as well as notes on both the original production and the revival.

The Normal Heart premiered in 1985 Off-Broadway produced by the legendary Joseph Papp at the Public Theater in New York and ran for nine months, starring the late Brad Davis, followed by Joel Grey. Other actors who have performed the role of Ned Weeks include Richard Dreyfuss (in Los Angeles), Martin Sheen (at the Royal Court in London), and Tom Hulce and then John Shea in the West End. The revival of The Normal Heart opened on Broadway in 2011 at the John Golden Theatre in New York to an ecstatic critical reception, and won the Tony Award for Best Revival. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and was adapted for television by HBO in 2014, with a cast including Mark Ruffalo and Julia Roberts, and went on to win numerous awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie.

Cast: 1 female, 8 male

What people say:

"The Normal Heart is breathing fire again! A great cathartic night at the theater." — New York Times

"This is essentially Ibsen for our times. The play's complexity is brought to pulse-pounding life ... Raw, scary and galvanizing." — Time Out New York

"Like the best social playwrights, Kramer produces a cross fire of life and death energies that illuminate the many issues and create a fierce and moving human drama." — Newsweek

"...burning, argumentative, witty and contentious play about the political and emotional consequences of the AIDS crisis." — The Observer

"Informative, heart-rending, witty, revelatory, poleaxing, a work of utter topicality and transcendent power." — The Listener

About the Playwright:

Larry Kramer (1935-2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and LGBT rights activist. After receiving his B.A. from Yale in 1957, he entered the film industry, becoming Assistant to the President of, first, Columbia Pictures, and then United Artists. He lived in London from 1961-1970, where he produced and wrote the screenplay for the film of D. H. Lawrence's classic novel, Women in Love. His screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. His play about the early years of AIDS, The Normal Heart, has been produced all over the world.