We came to Stratford three days early to catch the final performance of Casey and Diana, which was a heart-grabber, as billed . I was tearing up about halfway through. The ushers stood at the exits with tissue.  We were witnesses of two men dying of HIV in a Toronto hospice called “Casey,” one of the earliest providing the specialized services for terminal AIDS patients.

Sean Arbuckle, as Thomas (in photo), a huge Diana fan, is vulnerable and mercurial in a virtuoso performance of a man alternately hopeful and desolate in the final week of his life.

Thomas is motivated by the impending visit of Princess Diana  to try to survive another week. He even has visions of Diana (Krystin Pellerin)  and her wedding in extraordinary detail as to make us believe she is in his room before her actual visit.  Arbuckle’s admiration for Diana approaches idolatry and inspires him to survive. “Princess freaking Diana — that’ll make any homo smile,” he says. https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/review/2023/06/03/incredibly-moving-stratford-play-casey-and-diana-captures-princess-dianas-iconic-visit-to-torontos-casey-house.html

The dread of contact with HIV in the 1980’s is dramatized by the absence of the patients’ families, alienating their loved ones out of fear.  They contrast with the determination of hospice volunteers and professionals who don protective gloves, but make constant physical contact integral to their therapy. The main set is a hospice room with two patients, the young Latino Andre and the older White patient Thomas, who checks in on Andre every morning calling out “Marco” and waiting for the response “Polo” to confirm life.

Thomas’s estrangement from his sister, Pauline (Laura Condlin), is an important subplot, dramatized by his initial refusal to even see her in his room. The healing of their relationship is tortuous to witness, but it suggests an almost miraculous intervention toward their reconciliation.  Here is where the tears begin to flow.

In an effusively positive review, the Toronto Star reflects,

. . . the play is a subtle but powerful critique of societal neglect and shaming of those with outsider status. It centres Casey House as a place that defied such othering by giving safe haven to those who had nowhere else to go. “We are here to help men with AIDS. We are here to help them die,” says Vera in a late-play speech that both opens up the character’s toughness and drills down on what the play is exploring. “It is a huge gift to give, and it is enough,” she says. https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/review/2023/06/03/incredibly-moving-stratford-play-casey-and-diana-captures-princess-dianas-iconic-visit-to-torontos-casey-house.html

The play had a brief three-week opening at Stratford, but it is too good to end here. If Casey and Diana appears local to you, I recommend it strongly for its realistic, yet hopeful battle at the end of life.  It portrays the struggle of the families and the care-givers in desperate, yet redemptive relationships.