The first London production since the 1987 UK premiere of William M. Hoffman’s ‘As Is’ opens at the Finborough Theatre for a four week limited season on Tuesday, 6 August 2013 directed by Andrew Keates.
New York City, 1985.
Rich, a young writer who is beginning to find success, is breaking up with his longtime lover, Saul, a professional photographer. However Rich’s idyll with his new lover is short-lived when he learns that he has contracted the terrifying new disease AIDS and returns to Saul for sanctuary as he awaits its slow and awful progress.
In a mosaic of brilliantly conceived short scenes, some profoundly moving, some brightly humorous, As Is captures the pathos of Rich’s relationship with friends and family, the cold impersonality of the doctors and nurses who care for him and the widely diverse aspects of New York’s gay community. A heartbreaking and unsparing examination of a deeply felt human relationship shattered by a mindless, destructive disease.
Blending humour, poignance and brilliant theatricality, As Is was a revolutionary and groundbreaking play of its time, and is still sadly urgently relevant as the number of gay and bisexual men being diagnosed with HIV in the UK reached an “all-time high” in 2011, according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA).
Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED
Box Office 0844 847 1652 Book online atwww.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 August – Saturday, 31 August 2013
Tuesday to Saturday Evenings at 7.30pm. Sunday Matinees at 3.00pm. Saturday matinees at 3.00pm (from the second week of the run).
Prices for Weeks One and Two (6–18 August 2013) – Tickets £14, £11 concessions, except Tuesday Evenings £11 all seats, and Saturday evenings £14 all seats. Previews (6 and 7 August) £9 all seats.
£6 tickets for Under 30’s for performances from Tuesday to Sunday of the first week when booked online only.
£10 tickets for residents of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on Saturday,
10 August 2013 when booked online.
