Guest Blog: Actor and Producer Aaron Vodovoz On LONELY PLANET

This month's London Pride Festival celebrates the equality and diversity within the LGBTQ+ community, showcasing them in talks, events and performances, and culminating with the iconic Pride parade.

But as much as London Pride is about empowering the community and accepting who you are in all forms, it will always be rooted in the political activism that started it.

Similar to the Christopher Street Gay Liberation Day in 1969 New York, which started the gay liberation movement in America, these were parades held in order to fight the oppressive nature of the society of the time. Sadly, this resistance returned when the AIDS epidemic broke out and brought its stigma back to the surface.

Since then, the Parade has become a sign of courage, pride and acceptance; it demonstrates the solidarity and support within the community throughout its history. Lonely Planet very much deals with these same subjects.

Steven Dietz's play focuses on the friendship between Jody, a cautious and thoughtful man who owns a map store, and Carl, a frequent visitor to the store with an unusually vivid imagination and multiple, ever-changing occupations.

Even though the play is set during the AIDS epidemic in the Eighties and Nineties, the word AIDS isn't actually mentioned even once in the play. Nevertheless, you understand that they're both going through unbelievably challenging times, and the only way they survive is by being there for each other - whether they like it or not.

Today, this play is still very relevant. I remember soon after the Brexit vote, there was a steep rise in homophobic attacks against the LGBTQ+ community. This atmosphere, coupled with the declining public knowledge and awareness about HIV, makes Lonely Planet very pertinent.

The play has the ability to allow the audience to relate to and sympathise with the characters and, together with the Q&As planned during the run, can help inform the public and raise their awareness and knowledge regarding HIV and AIDS.

I first read Lonely Planet while I was in my last year at LAMDA. I'd received it a from a good friend in America, who mentioned that I reminded her of the character Carl and that she thought I'd enjoy reading it.

Boy, was she right. From the first scene, I couldn't stop myself smiling and laughing out loud. I was so curious as to what the next page brought with it. I read it through that night and decided I wanted to put the play on.

It then took another two years until the play finally happened at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick. It was the UK premiere of the Lonely Planet and it ran at exactly the same time last year. We had three weeks of rehearsals, three weeks of performances, and it was one of the most amazing experiences in theatre-making I've had - mostly because of the fantastic cast and crew that agreed to come on board.

At the Tabard, we hosted four Q&A sessions with people who had lived through the AIDS epidemic and doctors who specialise in the field. The feedback was so encouraging that we decided to host even more this year - seven, to be precise.

As we did last year, we will be fundraising for both the National Aids Trust and the Terrence Higgins Trust, and in addition - thanks to the sponsorship of Pasante and INSTI self-test kits - we'll be able to offer HIV self-test kits to anyone who wants them.

We're proud to be bringing this play to life. Lonely Planet is truly full of beautiful stories and gentle life lessons for all humankind.

Lonely Planet at Trafalgar Studios until 7 July

Photo credit: Richard Hubert Smith