FEATURED SHOW: The ★★★★★ reviews are in for “outstanding” Moment of Grace

FEATURED SHOW: The ★★★★★ reviews are in for “outstanding” Moment of Grace https://ift.tt/30J4i45

“Sensitive and engaging,” “beautiful,” immensely thoughtful”: Take a look at the incredible reviews for new online play Moment of Grace, then watch for yourself at The Actors Centre website until 9 August.

Moment of Grace is set in 1987. Princess Diana’s landmark visit to a London AIDS ward has sparked world-wide interest, with camera crews and a televised interview. But AIDS remains taboo. Even being seen to work on this ward could cost you everything. To change public misconceptions, would you have risked it?

Told through the eyes of Jude, a nurse on the ward, Andrew, a patient, and Donnie, a fireman estranged from his son, this ground-breaking new play Moment of Grace tells how the Princess’s visit brought critical attention to AIDS awareness through empathy and acts of kindness. At a time when we are wary of coming in contact with each other, it is the story of the power of a handshake.

A stage version of Bren Gosling’s Moment of Grace premiered to sold out audiences at Bloomsbury Festival in in 2018 and played a special performance at St Anne’s Church, Soho, on World AIDS Day the same year. The play won the 2020 No: Intermission International One Act Play Festival.

Lucy Walker Evans, Luke Dayhill and Andrew Paul star in the production, which was filmed during lockdown using a sanitised smartphone camera and basic kit couriered between performers. They are directed by Nicky Allpress.

Gosling and Allpress have been supported by the National HIV Story Trust in turning their vision of a stage show into a film, with a grant from The SE Franklin Trust. The National HIV Story Trust is a UK charity, which aims to preserve and tell the story of those affected by the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s.

Moment of Grace is available to stream from The Actors Centre website from 31 July to 9 August. The production costs £6 to stream. This payment gives audiences access to the production for 48 hours.

Moment of Grace Review highlights

London Theatre1 – ★★★★★

Terry Eastham: “All three actors really put themselves on the line to portray their characters and make them people we could believe in and understand. I have to mention Luke Dayhill whose performance really blew me away.”

londontheatre1.com

Theatre Weekly – ★★★★

Joe Hunter: “Bren Gosling’s script is sensitive and engaging, holding multiple mirrors up to the subject it explores.”

theatreweekly.com

Out News Global – ★★★★

Rob Harkavy: “… brilliantly juxtaposes the glamour of Diana with the bleakness of AIDS in the 80s and it’s impossible to praise the actors enough, each of them resisting any temptation to overact and letting Gosling’s script do the heavy lifting.”

outnewsglobal.com