Theatre Bench Presents Dragonflies Theatre's THE HIV MONOLOGUES

Dragonflies Theatre's new production returns in 2017, exploring HIV amongst gay men.

Alex knows nothing about HIV but knew he should have worn the power bottom singlet. Nick is his Tinder date who's just been diagnosed positive. Their date is going amazingly until Nick discloses... A story of emotion, LGBT history and overcoming stigma unfolds.

Starring Kane Surry, Denholm Spurr, Charly Flyte and Jonathan Blake, one of the first people to be diagnosed with HIV.

2-19 February

Miranda London, the Ace Hotel, 100 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JQ

Booking link: www.dragonfliestheatre.co.uk/hiv-monologues

Cast and Creative Bios:

Patrick Cash (Writer)
Patrick is joint artistic director of Dragonflies Theatre. His previous theatre credits include a queer adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream (Arcola),The Clinic (King's Head), Queers (King's Head), Superficial (The Glory) and The Chemsex Monologues (King's Head). He is also a spoken word poet, hosting the long-running event Spoken Word London, and the renowned gay men's wellbeing forum Let's Talk About Gay Sex & Drugs. Both The HIVMonologues and The Chemsex Monologues have been published by Oberon Books. Patrick has been named "one to watch" as a playwright by The Independent.

Luke Davies (director)

Luke Davies is joint artistic director of Dragonflies Theatre. He is an associate director at Kuleshov and is one of the co-founders of the Con|Eva Project. Recent directing credits include The Chemsex Monologues (King's Head) ***** Act Drop; The HIV Monologues (King's Head) ***** The Gay UK; Superficial (The Glory) ***** Gay Times; The Clinic (King's Head) ***** Flazeda; Queers (King's Head) ***** Gay Times; Journey to Sex Colony 01 (Just the Tonic) **** The List; King Ubu (Zoo Venues) Must See Show - The Stage; East (C Venues) **** British Theatre Guide. He trained as a theatre director at Lamda, graduating 2015.

Jonathan Blake
Jonathan Blake plays Barney. He was one of the first people to be diagnosed with HIV in the UK. His story was the inspiration for the film Pride, in which he was played by Dominic West. The HIV Monologues signals a return to the stage for Jonathan after more than thirty years.

Kane Surry
Kane Surry plays Nick. His recent theatre credits include a current production of The Legendary Children of The House of Fierce (Team Angelica), That Catholic Thing, (Sky Blue Theatre Company), along with recent feature films , Sacracide (Kamrakasi Films), Kill Kane (Northbank Entertainment) and promos #LGBT Superheroes (Shape History) and It Starts With Me (Shape History/The Terrence Higgins Trust).

Denholm Spurr
Denholm Spurr plays Alex. His recent theatre credits include Cathy Come Home (Barbican), The Chemsex Monologues (King's Head), Hookup (Hackney Showroom), Othello (Waterloo East), Defining Moments of Truth and Deception (Soho Theatre) and The Past is a Tattooed Sailor (Old Red Lion). Film credits include Trouser Bar, Seeing is Believing and Hang Man.

Charly Flyte
Charly Flyte plays Irene. Her recent theatre credits include The Little Prince (Arcola), The Chemsex Monologues (King's Head), Huis Clos (The Rosemary Branch), All That Music (Forum Teatro, Valencia) and Lord Bullingdon's Last Cigar (Punchrunk). Film and television credits include Neil Gamain's Likely Stories (Sky Arts), Doctors (BBC) and Voodoo Magic.

Theatre Bench (Producer)
Theatre Bench produces original musicals, plays, dance and music, by new and emerging British creatives. Nurturing & encouraging new talent in a variety of disciplines, unbound by subject or genre, Theatre Bench has gone from strength to strength.
We produced the world premiere of Craig Adams & Ian Watson's 'LIFT' at Soho Theatre in February 2013. In 2014 we produced 'Carthage' and 'Thérèse Raquin' at the Finborough Theatre and co-produced acclaimed choreographer Drew McOnie's 'Drunk' at the Bridewell Theatre with the McOnie Company. 'Thérèse Raquin' transferred to the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park later the same year.
Theatre Bench produced the world premiere of 'These Trees are Made of Blood' at Southwark Playhouse in Spring 2015, a political cabaret about the Dirty War in 1970s Argentina. We also co-produced 'Teddy' by Tristan Bernays, with music by Dougal Irvine, also at the Southwark Playhouse and 'Claustrophobia' at The Hope Theatre Islington.
In 2016 we produced 'The Brink' at Orange Tree with W14 Productions, and 'Every Seven Years' at Illuminate Festival. 2017 looks to be our busiest year yet.
http://theatrebench.com

Dragonflies Theatre
Dragonflies Theatre is a theatre company dedicated to making challenging and thought-provoking work that reflects the lives of the LGBT+ community.
www.dragonfliestheatre.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DragonfliesTheatre
Twitter: www.twitter.com/@DFTheatre

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