SOURCE: A review of The Normal Heart, in The New York Times, 22 April 1985, Section 2, p. 5.

The Normal Heart debuted 21 April 1985 in a production by Joe Papp at the Public Theater in New York. In the following assessment of that production, Rich observes that, despite the play's theatrical shortcomings, there are "occasions when the stage seethes with the conflict of impassioned, literally life-and-death argument. "

The blood that's coursing through The Normal Heart, the new play by Larry Kramer at the Public Theater, is boiling hot. In this fiercely polemical drama about the private and public fallout of the AIDS epidemic, the playwright starts off angry, soon gets furious and then skyrockets into sheer rage. Although Mr. Kramer's theatrical talents are not always as highly developed as his conscience, there can be little doubt that The Normal Heart is the most outspoken play around—or that it speaks up about...