Alastair Curtis

Bio

Alastair Curtis is a writer, filmmaker and playwright based in London.

His writing on art and culture has appeared in Frieze, AnOther Mag, The Economist, TANK, 1843 Magazine, Prospect, The Oxford Review of Books and The Observer, where he was shortlisted for the Anthony Burgess Arts Writing Prize.

His debut short film Sweetheart is in post-production, directed by Luke Wintour and starring Thomas Flynn, Ian Gelder, Kadiff Kirwan and Eben Figueiredo. It is produced by CAMP and executive produced by Alastair with Matthew López (The Inheritance), Marco Alessi (The Bower) and Luke Kelly (Matilda the Musical; Wonka).

He is the founder of The AIDS Plays Project, a campaign to rediscover, produce and celebrate plays by writers who died of HIV/AIDS. It launched in September 2023 with a rehearsed reading of Charles Ludlam’s Camille and has since appeared in Frieze, AnOther Mag, The Evening Standard and HERO. In December 2023, he directed Sharon Small, Nathan Armarkwei Laryea, Mary Malone and Dominic Holmes in a reading of Christmas on Mars by Harry Kondoleon, and he is now editing the play-text with Polari Plays for its re-publication.

This spring he directed Jerker or the Helping Hand by Robert Chesley, starring Syrus Lowe, Adam Silver and Ms Sharon le Grand, at London Performance Studios, where he is an Associate Artist 2024-2026. A recording of the performance, broadcast in April 2024, is now available from Montez Press Radio (£).

A graduate of the John Burgess Playwriting Course, he has been taught by playwrights including Tom Stoppard and now reads scripts for the George Devine Award and several theatres.

Press

“Alastair Curtis on Rediscovering Plays by Writers Lost to AIDS ” by Sam Moore, Frieze, September 8th 2023

“The AIDS Plays Project, spearheaded by playwright Alastair Curtis, seeks to restage theatrical works created by writers lost to HIV/AIDS. In partnership with London Performance Studios, an initiative based in Bermondsey, Curtis launches the project with Charles Ludlam’s Camille (1973), performed by a cast of established actors and drag/nightlife performers.”

“Allen and Adcock: Meet the Duo Behind London's Queer Costume Studio to the Stars” by Joe Bromley, Evening Standard, November 24th 2023

“Their next project is with the AIDS Play Project, playwright Alastair Curtis’ theatre company, which resurfaces productions written by people who lost their lives to the disease. ‘We just finished a run of Camille, by Charles Ludlam. Next is Christmas on Mars, written by Harry Kondoleon,’ Allen says. These are done on a shoestring, something of a specialty: ‘I enjoy the challenge of having to make something very quickly with a very low budget. We do it quite well,’ Adcock says.”

"Alastair Curtis is reviving the forgotten plays of writers who died of HIV/AIDS” by Barry Pierce, HERO, December 6th 2023

“Alastair Curtis is a writer, critic and occasional revivalist of so-called “lost” plays. A couple of years ago, he became interested in the generation of playwrights from the 1970s and 80s who we lost to HIV/AIDS. Many of them, such as Charles Ludlam, Harry Kondoleon, and Robert Chesley, were acclaimed in their time, but following their untimely deaths, their works have become somewhat forgotten. This is the injustice that Alastair rails against with The AIDS Play Project. In a series of one-off rehearsed readings, The AIDS Play Project revives these brilliant plays, placing them back in front of the audience they deserve.”