To the Trafalgar Studios in London's fabulous West End to see Holding the Man, a play based on a cult Australian autobiographical book by Timothy Conigrave. It's a love story really, from when Tim fell in love with the football captain at his Catholic boys' school in Melbourne, their relationship through uni, drama school (in Tim's case), early gay politics and sexual freedom (again in Tim's case) - until both men died of Aids in the early Nineties.
I remember that time of fear (mine) and loathing (other people's) all too well. I came to London in 1982 and was able, for the first time, at the advanced age of 25, to enjoy the burgeoning sexual freedom for gay men. I'd barely had time to shake a big pink stick when Aids arrived.
Sex with another man at that time meant standing on opposite sides of the room waving at each other - wearing Marigolds. I've been having safe sex ever since - that's about 27 years...
So a lot of memories came seeping back as I watched the production - which is also very funny and has Jane Turner of Kath and Kim fame, who actually knew Tim and his lover back in Oz, stealing many a scene in various roles.
When I looked around the audience there were a lot of young guys and I realised that this was actually a history lesson for them. It was a sobering (and depressing, age-wise) thought. The production also brings home the fact that the battle against Aids - both medical and in terms of social attitudes - may have been more or less won in this country, but that is far from the case in other parts of the world.
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