The Normal Heart Play

The play, The Normal Heart, by Larry Kramer, is an extremely powerful and moving piece of art, that connects the emotional and physical aspect of AIDS that has plagued the gay community in New York City in the 1980’s. The play explores all aspects of not only the disease itself, but the emotional obstacles that gay men must struggle through: identity, loss, fear, acceptance, and love. The performance of The Normal Heart at the Allen Theater at Berkshire School was truly awe inspiring and stimulating. The play that had been rendered more than twenty five years ago, was encapsulated tonight with the same values and emotional aspects that had been so genuine when first performed. One of the most important elements of a well performed play is

In many plays, characters are hard to connect with because they are very fictional and the choices they make had no real consequences; although, Larry Kramer is able to humanize each action that is made and connect the audience to the person. One part of the play that made Ned Weeks believable was when he was arguing with his friends about the seriousness of the disease and the lack of support there was for it: “I said we’re all cowards! I said rich gays will give thousands to straight charities before they’ll give us a dime.” Ned’s use of this profound tone and language is what engages the audience to be able to see the frustration that a man in his position would be going through. It allows people to break through the dream they want to be in and enter the harsh reality that the homosexual community had to persevere through. One moment that captured relatability of society in a character was when Ned and his brother Ben both met with each other. During this meeting, Ned becomes distressed when he believes Ben will not give him finace from his company to support his cause; however, when Ned accuses his brother of not seeing him as his equal the audience is able to see how this inequality between people has continued to plague not only our nation but the

However, the political impact this performance had in the 1980’s versus the year 2017 are polar opposites. When this play was first shown at the Public Theatre in New York City, the performance confronted the issue of AIDS and HIV in the United States in a way that was not as openly accepted as it is today. During the AIDS crisis in these years, the consensus between the mass population was that this epidemic was strictly only a “gay cancer.” This belief led to the lack of funding to help fight this cause and ended up causing it to spread even more rapidly. The political difference between these two times vary drastically, during the 1980’s it is clear that the lack to help the cause is linked with homophobia and was a large part of society; as it is clearly demonstrated by the lack of compassion for the gay community. During the meeting with the mayor’s assistant Harim exclaims, “ Six hundred? You think the mayor worries about six hundred? A fire goes out in a school furnace on the West Side between Seventy-second and Ninety Sixth streets, I get three thousand phone calls. In one day! You know what I'm talking about? (Kramer 85) This absence of compassion for these deaths is a byproduct of the belittling the gay community by outcasting them in society. However, during the screening of this play last night, it is clear that this play might hold even a greater