Нормальное сердце: Пьеса и экранизация Ларри Крамера

Play by Larry Kramer
the film adaptation

The Normal Heart is a largely autobiographical play by Larry Kramer. It focuses on the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group. The play's title comes from W. H. Auden's poem, "September 1, 1939". After a successful 1985 off Broadway production at The Public Theater, the play was staged in Los Angeles and London. It was revived off Broadway in 2004, and finally made its Broadway debut in 2011. The play was first published by Plume in the USA, and by Drama Editor Nick Hern for Methuen in the UK to coincide with the 1986 British première at London's Royal Court Theatre. He then reissued it in his own imprint Nick Hern Books in 2011 when first staged on Broadway, and again in a tie in edition alongside the National Theatre revival in 2021.

During the early 1980s, Jewish American writer and gay activist Ned Weeks struggles to pull together an organization focused on raising awareness about the fact that an unidentified disease is killing off a specific group of people: gay men, largely in New York City. Dr. Emma Brookner, a physician and survivor of polio (as a consequence of which she is using a wheelchair), has the most experience with this strange new disease. She bemoans the lack of medical knowledge about the illness, and encourages gay men to practice abstinence for their own safety, since it is still unknown how the disease is spread. Ned, a patient and friend of Brookner's, calls upon his lawyer brother, Ben, to help fund his crisis organization; however, Ben's attitude toward his brother is one of merely passive support, which ultimately exposes his homophobia. For the first time in his life, meanwhile, Ned falls in love, beginning a relationship with New York Times writer Felix Turner. The increasing death toll raises the unknown illness, by this time correctly believed to be caused by a virus, to the status of an epidemic, though the press remains largely silent on the issue. A sense of urgency guides Ned, who realizes that Ben is more interested in buying a two million dollar house than in backing Ned's activism. Ned explosively breaks off ties with his brother, not wanting further interaction until Ben can fully accept Ned's homosexuality. Ned next looks to Mayor Ed Koch's administration for help in financing research about the epidemic, which has now killed hundreds of gay men, including some of Ned's personal friends. Ned's organization elects as its president Bruce Niles, who is described as the "good cop" of gay activism in implicit comparison to Ned: while Bruce is cautious, polite, deferential, and closeted, Ned is vociferous, confrontational, incendiary, openly gay, and supportive only of direct action. Tensions between the two are clear, though they must work together to effectively promote their organization. Felix, meanwhile, reveals to Ned his belief that he is now infected with the mysterious virus. Although he continues to try to strengthen interactions with the mayor, Ned ruins his chances when his relentless and fiery personality appalls a representative sent by the mayor. Dr. Brookner gradually takes on the role of activist herself, and notes the epidemic's appearance in other countries and among heterosexuals. Although she desperately seeks government funding for further research, her request is denied; the rejection prompts her to unleash a passionate tirade against those who allow the persistence of an epidemic that is taking the lives of homosexuals, who are already marginalized by the government. In the meantime, Ned's conflict with Bruce comes to a head, and their organization's board of directors ultimately expels Ned from the group, believing his unstable vehemence to be a threat to the group's attempts to engage in calmer diplomacy. As Felix's condition worsens, he visits Ben in order to make his will, and in the hope of effecting a reconciliation between Ben and his brother. All of them, along with Emma, meet at Felix's deathbed. Emma unofficially weds Felix and Ned, and Felix dies immediately after. Ned blames himself for his lover's death, lamenting that he did not fight hard enough to make his voice heard. The play ends with Ned and Ben embracing. As the stage fades to black, the rate of mortality from HIV/AIDS is shown to be continuing to increase.

After most performances of the 2011 revival of The Normal Heart, Kramer personally passed out a dramaturgical flyer detailing some of the real stories behind the play's characters. Kramer wrote that the character "Bruce" was based on Paul Popham, the president of the GMHC from 1981 until 1985; "Tommy" was based on Rodger McFarlane, who was executive director of GMHC and a founding member of ACT UP and Broadway Cares; and "Emma" was modeled after Dr. Linda Laubenstein, who treated some of the first New York cases of what later became known as AIDS. Like "Ned," Kramer himself helped to found several AIDS activism groups, including Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) and AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), and indeed experienced personal conflict with his lawyer brother, Arthur. It has been suggested (though not by Kramer himself) that the model for 'Felix' was John Duka, a New York Times style reporter who died of AIDS related complications in 1989.

Produced by Joseph Papp and directed by Michael Lindsay Hogg, the play opened off Broadway at The Public Theater on April 21, 1985, and ran for 294 performances. The original cast included Brad Davis as Ned and D. W. Moffett as Felix, with David Allen Brooks as Bruce Niles and Concetta Tomei as Dr. Emma Brookner (based on Linda Laubenstein, M. D.). Joel Grey replaced Davis later in the run. During the original 1985 production, the set was very simple with a small amount of furniture and the set walls consisted of white washed plywood. The Polish cast included pl as Ned Weeks and pl as Tommy Boatwright, with Andrzej Szczytko as Bruce Niles and Irena Grzonka as Dr. Emma Brookner. In a student production of the play at Cambridge University in 1988, the role of Felix was played by Nick Clegg. The play received its Australian premiere at the Sydney Theatre Company in 1989, directed by Wayne Harrison. In subsequent productions of the play, Ned Weeks was portrayed by Richard Dreyfuss in Los Angeles, and Raul Esparza in a 2004 Off Broadway revival directed by David Esbjornson at the Public. On April 18, 1993, Barbra Streisand organized and introduced a benefit reading for Broadway Cares at the Roundabout Theatre Company (for years she had been trying to get the movie made with her as director). It starred Kevin Bacon, John Turturro, Harry Hamlin, D. W. Moffett, Tony Roberts, David Drake, Kevin Geer, Eric Bogosian, Jonathan Hadary and Stockard Channing as Emma Brookner.

The Broadway premiere of The Normal Heart began on April 19, 2011, for a limited 12 week engagement at the Golden Theatre. This production used elements employed in a staged reading, directed by Joel Grey, held in October 2010. The cast featured Joe Mantello as Ned, Ellen Barkin (making her Broadway debut) as Dr. Brookner, John Benjamin Hickey as Felix, Lee Pace as Bruce Niles, and Jim Parsons as Tommy Boatwright (both Pace and Parsons made their Broadway debuts). Joel Grey made his Broadway directing debut; George C. Wolfe was supervising director. The production supported several "nonprofit organizations, including The Actors Fund and Friends In Deed." In the 2011 Broadway revival, when the actors weren't in the scene they would stand along the walls of the set and watch from the shadows the scene being performed. A production produced by Studio 180 Theatre at Buddies in Bad Times theatre in Toronto, Ontario, in 2011 and 2012 starred Jonathan Wilson as Ned Weeks and John Bourgeois as Ben. In May 2021, The One Archives Foundation presented a historic virtual reading of "The Normal Heart" reaching audiences across the United States and in 19 countries across the globe. The virtual presentation marked the first time the play featured a cast that is predominately BIPOC and LGBTQ. Directed by Emmy Award winner Paris Barclay, cast members of the production included Sterling K. Brown, Laverne Cox, Jeremy Pope, Vincent Rodriguez III, Guillermo Díaz, Jake Borelli, Ryan O’Connell, Daniel Newman, Jay Hayden and Danielle Savre. An encore presentation of the reading streamed worldwide in December 2021 in honor of World AIDS Day. A London revival of the play was originally scheduled to begin performances at the National Theatre in Spring 2021, but was delayed due to the COVID 19 pandemic. It began previews on 23 September 2021 at the National's Olivier Theatre, with a Dominic Cooke directed cast led by Ben Daniels, Liz Carr and Luke Norris. The production, staged in part celebration of the play's 35th anniversary and the author (who died of pneumonia in 2020), received largely positive reviews. Many critics noted social and political parallels between the play's representation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic. The revival ran until 6 November 2021, and received five Laurence Olivier Award nominations the following year, including Best Revival and Best Actor for Daniels. Carr won the Olivier for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and Daniels received a Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actor. The State Theatre Company of South Australia staged the play at the Adelaide Festival Centre in October 2022, directed by Dean Bryant, with STCSA artistic director Mitchell Butel as Ned and Mark Saturno as Ben.

A Polish television adaptation débuted on the TVP channel on 4 May 1989, one month before the first free election in the country since 1928. The American telefilm adaptation débuted on the HBO premium pay cable channel on Sunday, May 25, 2014.

Kramer wrote a sequel about Ned Weeks in 1992, The Destiny of Me, which was performed at the Lucille Lortel Theater by the Circle Repertory Company in October of that year.

Year Award Category Nominee Result 2011Tony AwardBest Revival of a PlayBest Actor in a PlayJoe MantelloBest Featured Actor in a PlayJohn Benjamin HickeyBest Featured Actress in a PlayEllen BarkinBest Direction of a PlayGeorge C. Wolfe and Joel GreyDrama Desk AwardOutstanding Revival of a PlayOutstanding Ensemble PerformanceOutstanding Director of a PlayGeorge C. Wolfe and Joel Grey