REVIEW: The Normal Heart, Olivier, National Theatre (2021)
The play opens with a silent funereal tribute with the whole cast gathered around a flame in a brazier. As the brazier is raised to the flies, a furious party ensues with disco music. In Scene 1 in July 1981 we see Craig Donner (Elander Moore) terrified at his diagnosis. Craig Donner is barely out of his teens and he is frightened and shaking with emotion. An older man David (Richard Cant) has dark lesions on his face.