Alastair Curtis





Contact

CJ Rock (Writing, TV & Film)
cj@casarotto.co.uk

The AIDS Plays Project
alastair@theaidsplaysproject.com



The AIDS Plays Project revives and republishes the work of playwrights who died from HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. Founded in 2023 after years of archival research, the project focuses on twentieth-century queer writers whose lives were cut short before their careers could fully flourish, or whose plays have since slipped into obscurity.

Through rehearsed readings by actors, activists and drag artists, the project seeks to restore an intergenerational link between these playwrights and contemporary audiences. Each performance is paired with interviews, essays and tributes by those who knew or loved them. More than preservation, the project invites audiences to engage deeply with these overlooked voices —and to let their influence shape the work being created today.

theaidsplaysproject.com




Past Productions


Reasons for Staying by Colm Ó Clúbhán (1986)
27th February - 1st March 2025
London Performance Studios

Cast: Connor Byrne, Cavan Clarke, Liadán Dunlea, Nicky Harris, Taylor McClaine and Justine Mitchell.

One winter night, in an Irish pub down a London backstreet, a group of strangers gather to share stories of the country they left behind. But in the shadow of recent IRA attacks, anti-Irish prejudice is rising. Police raids are frequent —and even this pub no longer promises safety.



P.S. Your Cat is Dead! by James Kirkwood (1975)
17th - 19th October 2024
London Performance Studios

Cast: Ben Allen, Lewis Brown, Luca Kamleh Chapman and Florence Keith-Roach.

Jimmy Zoole is having a terrible New Year’s Eve. Losing the only manuscript of his first novel was bad enough, but he’s also been fired from his job, dumped by his girlfriend, and his beloved cat has died. Now, he has returned home to find a man breaking into his apartment. But as fireworks light up the sky over New York, he discovers an unexpected attraction to his would-be-thief.



Jerker by Robert Chesley (1986)
8-9th March 2024
London Performance Studios

Cast: Syrus Lowe, Adam Silver and Ms Sharon le Grand.

JR and Bert are San Francisco faggots. They don’t know each other’s names, faces, or where they live—but they know exactly how to turn each other on. Their connection begins with a dirty phone call, but over the many nights that follow, as their lovers and friends fall sick and die, they come to share their hopes and fears about an increasingly uncertain and frightening future.




Christmas on Mars by Harry Kondoleon (1983)
1st December 2024, Rich Mix
9th December 2023, London Performance Studios

Cast: Nathan Armarkwei Laryea, Rakie Ayola, Dominic Holmes, Mary Malone, Sharon Small and Stuart Thompson.

Bruno, an out-of-work actor, plans on marrying and setting up home with his pregnant partner Audrey. But the couple’s future happiness is threatened by the arrival of two unexpected guests who refuse to leave: Nissim, a flight attendant who alleges he is, in fact, Bruno’s long-term partner, and Ingrid, Audrey’s estranged mother, who will do anything to atone for years of parental neglect. 



Camille by Charles Ludlam (1973)
9th September 2023
London Performance Studios

Cast: Jeanie Crystal, Florence Dobson, Sue Gives A Fuck, Alistair Hall, Paul Hilton, Luke Hornsby, Orlando/Holly James Johnston, Lauren John Joseph, Rilwan Abiola Owokoniran and Melissa Saint.

After a period of ill health, the legendary courtesan Marguerite Gautier returns to nineteenth-century Parisian society to take her pick of the city’s most eligible bachelors. Her appetite for luxury is soon tested by the penniless but handsome Armand Duval. This queer melodrama blends elements of Hollywood cinema and classic French literature to stage the tragedy of ‘The Lady of the Camellias’ in a deliberately ridiculous style.



Costume and Set Design Max Allen and Elliott Adcock with Kurtis Lincoln Sound Design Helen Noir Lighting Design Sorcha Stott-Strzala Producers Alastair Curtis and Izzy Parriss Production Assistant Cara Dromgoole Photography Henry Mills, Tyler Kelly and Jake Bush Commissioned by London Performance Studios

World AIDS Day 2024

On World AIDS Day, we partnered with the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt for our revival of ‘Christmas on Mars’ by Harry Kondoleon at Rich Mix, London. Several panels from the quilt—bearing names like Ian Charleson and Rudolf Nureyev—formed the backdrop to this haunting exploration of love and loneliness in 80s New York. 




In Print

Christmas on Mars is the story of an unconventional foursome who come to share an apartment one holiday season, written in Harry Kondoleon’s antic comic style. First performed in 1983 at Playwrights Horizons, New York City, it received a rare revival in London in 2023 in a production directed by Alastair Curtis. Polari Press is now returning this classic of American queer theatre to print for the first time in nearly thirty years. Edited by Curtis, this special edition includes a conversation with theatre critic Don Shewey and an afterword by the playwright Wendy Wasserstein, as well as Tyler Kelly’s photos of the play’s revival. It is a moving tribute to one of the twentieth-century’s most enchanting playwrights.






Archival Research

Each production is the result of extensive archival research in the UK and the US. The project has over 200 plays by more than 40 playwrights in its growing database, accompanied by memories, tributes and new interviews with their surviving friends, family, and loved ones. With their help, we are building an online archive to preserve and extend the legacies of these playwrights.


Colm O Clubhan 
Harry Kondoleon 
James Kirkwood 
Robert Chesley