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When we started rehearsal for this, there were 14 cases of AIDS in the UK, by the time we closed there were 28. People were largely shrugging it off, in much the same way as Britain shrugged off the mysterious cases of infection from a wet market in Wuhan at the beginning of 2020. So AntiBody was dismissed as scare-mongering, hysterical, sex-denying, and nothing to do with us. That is why much of the play is taken up with simple education. This was a time when the safer sex advice being given out was ‘Don't sleep with Americans.' But the play goes far beyond informing people. The central character, William, is a newly-diagnosed gay man facing what was then a 40% chance of dying. However, he uses his own death as a means to improve the chances of others. This stops the play being maudlin. I also like the fact that William is part of a dynamic lesbian and gay community, which is shown in all its gutsiness and commitment. This is a stark contrast to the solitary suffering portrayed elsewhere in AIDS plays and films. AntiBody was ground-breaking, and deserves much more recognition. The author will be participating from Washington DC. Antibody website.

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Author: Louise Parker Kelley