Review of As Is at the Trafalgar Studios

Phil Willmott 24 July, 2015, 16:34

As Is If you love a good weepy this revival of the first play written about the AIDS crisis in the 1980s is the show for you.

It was a terrible time of fear, prejudice and horror but as is often the case in periods of turmoil it also inspired great acts of compassion and bravery.

Central to the plot are a gay couple struggling to marry their expectations of a hedonistic gay life style with the fact that it appears to have resulted in a cruel debilitating disease for which there’s no cure and which afflicts one of them. Their experience mirror the wider impact the sickness is having on society, gay and straight. The most poignant scene involves the ailing, Rich and his straight and straight laced brother finding and expressing a deeper love and understanding of each other.

Trafalgar Studios 2 is a tiny and very difficult space to make work but Andrew Keates is a director of formidable skill. He’s already displayed a mastery of the theatre’s limitations with a powerful revival of slavery musical, DESSA ROSE, featuring a large cast at this address. Now he excels at bringing the teeming streets of a bighted modern city to life against the grungy backdrop of a basement boiler room.

Andrew Keates is a director of formidable skill.

Steven Webb is wonderful in the central role conveying all the rage and despair of a young man who can no longer take anything for granted.

I’ve been very public about my disapproval of reviving old AIDS plays when the crisis has shifted so much since the initial hopelessness. We need to be making Theatre about AIDS now with up to date information. But Keates has cleverly balanced his snap shot from thirty years ago with regular and free post-show discussion nights in which he discusses the play with experts on H.I.V today.

It’s a pertinent issue with a distressing history but all credit to this production for keeping the issues in our mind when so many of us have allowed the medical breakthroughs to lull us into forgetting it’s still a clear and present danger.

As Is tickets