Moment of Grace, The Actors Centre (online) - ★★★★ - Until August 9, 2020


At the heart of this hybrid between theatre and film is the visit of Diana, Princess of Wales to an AIDS ward in 1987. The action is seen through the eyes of three characters superbly performed by Luke Dayhill, Lucy Walker-Evans and Andrew Paul. Dayhill is outstanding as the articulate patient, Andrew, movingly awaiting death. He worries about being outed on television and says "Doing this isn't easy." At times, sharing the challenges of these characters isn't easy either. Patients and nurses alike have to get through with a mixture of humour and hope; their experience is described as "clinics and crematoriums." Walker-Evans superbly portrays the young nurse, Jude, terrified to come into work each day while wondering which of her patients has died during the night. Paul, as firefighter Donnie, has a difficult task – embodying The Sun reader, wrapped in misconceptions, who finds that his gay son, a nurse on the AIDS ward, is HIV positive. Author Bren Gosling's use of language nicely differentiates the characters whilst not falling into cliché. The unseen Princess admits to being humbled by her experience, but the pernicious condition that is HIV/AIDS is still being stigmatised. Plays like this make older people remember and help younger people understand the terror that was the onset of this disease while showing how one small act of humanity can help change perceptions. A single tear trickles down Andrew's face as he thinks of standing between Jude and Diana – his angel wings.

 Reviewed by D.S.J.

 Our Score:  ☆☆☆☆ 

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 WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Until August 9, 2020
Wed: 7:30 pm
The Actors Centre (online)
Available at:
https://www.actorscentre.co.uk/theatre/moment-of-grace

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