The Normal Heart/ The Destiny of Me

The Normal Heart and The Destiny of Me are a pair of plays about Jewish writer Ned Weeks and his activism efforts during the AIDS crisis. Written by Jewish writer/activist Larry Kramer, the plays are incredibly autobiographical as Kramer was a hugely important figure of the AIDS movement. The Normal Heart premiered Off-Broadway in 1985 at The Public Theater, where it ran for an entire year. The Destiny of Me was written in 1992 as a sequel to The Normal Heart and is primarily focused on Ned Weeks’ adolescence in an abusive Jewish household. It was produced at the Lucille Lortel Theatre and Kramer was nominated for the ‘93 Pulitzer for Drama. 

 

The Normal Heart is considered a landmark text and has been produced over 600 times including a Broadway revival in 2011. It has been praised for being a courageous and outspoken endeavour by Kramer. Kramer began writing The Normal Heart directly after the events it portrays, calling out the failures of those involved with the AIDS crisis as well as the hypocrisy of the United States federal government and New York City mayoral office.  

 

The Normal Heart

 

The play begins in the summer 1981 and ends three years later in 1984. It is the beginning years of what will become known as the AIDS epidemic, but when we are introduced to our main character, Ned Weeks, the disease is brand-new and unknown. Ned, noticing that the men around him in New York City are starting to die, meets with Dr. Emma Brookner. She tells him the best way to stop this sickness is to get the gay community to stop having sex and Ned conveys that it is a preposterous request as many gay men have made promiscuity the core of their political agenda. Desperate to do something, Ned gathers members of the gay community together to form an organisation designed to spread awareness. The organisation (the Gay Men's Health Crisis in real life) is comprised of activists like Mickey Marcus, Bruce Niles, and Tommy Boatwright (all characters modelled on real historical figures). From the beginning, there is tension in the group as Ned believes provocation is the best way forward, while others in the organisation think a more diplomatic approach is better suited. Ned goes to his brother, Ben, asking for legal help with the organisation, although it's clear that while he is supportive, Ben is still uncomfortable with Ned’s homosexuality. The media is underreporting the disease and so Ned goes to the New York Times to push a reporter into taking action. While he is unsuccessful, he does meet Felix Turner who becomes his lover. On their first date, Ned tells him of the similarities between the American-Jew’s failure to get government intervention during the Holocaust and the gay community’s current struggle with their government. Motivated by this revelation, Ned takes to incendiary forms of activism, filled with anger towards the U.S. government, the New York City mayor, and the gay community, all who ignore the epidemic in their own ways. Ned wants confrontational direct action like picketing the White House and creating civil disobedience in front of the mayor’s mansion. He also resents the gay community's approach to sexual liberation as he sees it as their very downfall. While the organisation wants to focus on social services for the victims, Ned wants political action. He clashes with the other members of the organisation, especially Bruce Niles, who thinks Ned’s approach is hurting them more than helping. Ned fights with Ben who refuses to admit they are equals, Felix reveals his first AIDS lesion to Ned, and more and more gay men die. After a meeting with the mayor’s assistant where Ned is unable to control his anger, the organisation votes to remove him, believing his actions to be egotistical, manipulative, and exploitative. The play ends with Felix’s death as Ned grieves that he did not fight hard enough to save him. 

 

The Destiny of Me   

The Destiny of Me is a memory play and opens on Ned Weeks arriving at the National Institute of Health, HIV positive. It is a number of years after the events of The Normal Heart and Ned is taking part in an experimental treatment for AIDS. Facing his own mortality, he begins to imagine his childhood self, nicknamed Alexander, and the formative years in his parent’s home. His family lives outside Washington D.C. where Alexander’s father, Richard, is a government employee and his mother, Rena, works at the Red Cross. A 13-year-old Alexander is growing up in the years after the Second World War in a dysfunctional Jewish house. Scenes from both the past and present occur concurrently as Ned and Alexander interact with each other and their environments. Ned begins taking the experimental medication and Alexander expresses to his brother, Benjamin, and mother that he feels “different.” One day, Rena playfully helps Alexander dress in women's clothing for a Halloween costume when Richard comes home and finds them, hitting Alexander and calling him a “sissy.” Richard dives into a frenzy, physically abusing his son and ripping Alexander’s theatre posters off his wall. While Ned remains in the hospital, time passes in Alexander’s timeline and he is about 16-years-old. The Weeks family is on vacation in Connecticut where yet another fight breaks out between Richard and his sons. Meanwhile, Ned has an adverse reaction to a blood transfusion and goes into shock but he recovers. Alexander’s timeline moves forward and Alexander, now going by the name Ned, is at Yale and visited by Ben. Alexander admits to having an affair with his male professor and Ben calls homosexuality “unhealthy,” conjecturing it's a trauma response in Alexander to their upbringing. Ben recommends Alexander see a psychiatrist, claiming it's out of love and a desire to defend and protect Alexander. Ned tells Alexander that this begins a long stint in psychotherapy in which Alexander/Ned will learn to hate himself and his homosexuality. A few years down the road, Ben comes to Alexander’s apartment to celebrate his success in the movie business but Alexander is depressed. He yells at Ben for forcing him to go to all those psychiatrists and chasing love out of his own life. Alexander admits his desperation for Ben’s love, which he thinks will only come if he eradicates his homosexuality, is actively ruining Alexander’s chance at love. The brothers fight, over their relationship and their perceptions of their parents. Back at the NIH, Ned’s treatments start to work and he is given a good prognosis. Meanwhile, Alexander continues ageing as his father dies and mother moves into a home. At the end of the play, the two timelines meet when a 90-year-old Rena visits Ned in the hospital. It is there that Ned’s doctor reveals their budget has been cut, dashing Ned’s chances of survival. The Destiny of Me ends with a conversation between Ned and Alexander, facing possible death, together.