在这个国家，我们不擅长哀悼甚至记住。我们缺乏共同的仪式。即使承认损失也感到禁忌。至于长期的悲伤，尤其是对像艾滋病毒/艾滋病这样的历史污名化的东西？我们不舒服，无能，静音，扼杀自己并扼杀他人。
像科比（马特·韦默尔（Matt Weimer））一样“PrEP Play, or Blue Parachute,”is transgressive, especially since the drug regimen PrEP, which prevents HIV infection, was approved by the FDA in 2012. Medical science has sprung forward since the 1980s, Bryant’s much younger partner, Erik (James Aaron Oh), tells him. So why can’t Bryant? Even if he won’t take the drug himself, can’t he appreciate why Erik might want to?
The achievement of Yilong Liu’s world premiere, which opened Saturday, April 9, at New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco, is the way it insists upon and carves out space for such griefs as Bryant’s in a world that would happily steamroller over such feelings. Yet despite many sparks of imagination, in both the script and the direction by Adin Walker, “PrEP Play” insists too far — to the point of scolding, I-told-you-so didacticism.
尽管开端很强。In Liu’s expansive vision, the 2018 world of Bryant and Erik coexists fluidly with the 1986 relationship of Bryant and Jared (Troy Rockett) as well as Erik’s PrEP-, CBD- and alcohol-fueled hallucinations orchestrated by Agent 701 (Akaina Ghosh), a too-cool, all-knowing rock star embodiment of PrEP. A joint left behind in one world might get picked up and toked in another. A character might start out watching a scene play out in another time and reality, only to soon find himself a participant in it, standing in for someone else, trying on that person’s skin, kissing someone else’s lover.
在卡洛斯（Carlos）中，所有这些看起来都光滑而光滑，因此，大块的街区破裂并重新配置，成为从公寓屋顶到飞机小屋的地方。整个剧院都用丰富的蓝色油漆沐浴，有助于创造一个梦幻般的现实，这是可能的旅行，心理视野是切实的。丹尼尔·霍尔（Daniel Hall）的声音设计似乎唤醒了一群鬼魂，并旋转着它们，使它们远远超出了您的眼睛，贾斯汀·帕特尔（Justin Partier）闪烁的闪烁，闪烁的照明设计有助于从一个领域开放门户。
But as Erik starts to dig more deeply into the past, inserting himself more and more into what Bryant lost during the worst of the AIDS epidemic, “PrEP Play” becomes mere history lesson, where the blithe and epicurean Erik must dutifully and repentantly absorb how tragic and horrific the 1980s were for Bryant, which includes talky protracted scenes of get-to-know-you backstory devoid of in-the-moment stakes. Even though Erik has a valid perspective on what gay sexuality and culture might look like, not least as an immigrant from the much more repressive China, “PrEP Play” limits the possibility of real intergenerational or interracial exchange. The only concession Bryant makes to Erik is to finally try boba tea.
Amid this lopsided setup, Walker’s cast is refreshingly natural in NCTC’s intimate space, free of showy flourishes, unvarnished to the point of making you hold your breath — they’re talking to you as much as to their scene partners. As Bryant, Weimer invests a lifetime’s hurt into a single line. About his every move and expression there is always the wound itself, the guilt around his own survival and his own mistakes, the carapace he’s built to survive and the cracks in his armor — all together, all competing, at once.
“PrEP Play,” in its fondness for tying every loose end, could use a few more cracks.
L“PrEP Play, or Blue Parachute”:Written by Yilong Liu. Directed by Adin Walker. Through May 8. Two hours, 20 minutes. $25-$65. New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Ave., lower lobby, S.F. 415-861-8972.www.nctcsf.org