Steven Dietz’s wonderfully funny and intimate play Lonely Planet opens at Trafalgar Studio 2, exploring the stigma that is associated with AIDS.

The play originally premièred in the US at the Northlight Theatre, Illinois in 1993 and this production made its UK première at the Tabard Theatre last year to great acclaim. Ian Brown returns to direct Alexander McMorran (Jody) and Aaron Vodovoz (Carl) for this strictly limited run.

It’s 1980s America. There is no internet and mobile phones are a rarity. A photo appears at a local store of a person’s torso with lesions all over. This is how people became aware of an unknown virus which ended up decimating the gay community.

The moment you realise you’ve contracted this disease, it’s just too late. How would you react if you thought you might have a life-threatening disease? Would you want to know?

Lonely Planet focuses on the friendship between Jody and Carl – their struggle coming to terms with illness and their own mortality.

Writer Steven Dietz’s 30 plus plays and adaptations have been seen at over 100 regional theatres in the United States, as well as Off-Broadway. International productions have been seen in over 20 countries and his work has been translated into 10 languages.

A strictly limited run, Lonely Planet is by turns moving, funny and intimate, and opens in the run up to London’s iconic Pride parade.