Take a Seat

An expertly woven mixture of absurdity and poignancy, Steven Dietz's heartfelt examination of the AIDs epidemic comes to the Trafalgar Studios for a limited run, coinciding with Pride month. Concerning two very different friends and their very different approach to the ongoing crisis in their community, Lonely Planet reminds us that hiding away from the world and its problems can have devastating consequences through wit, sadness and with an alarming number of chairs.

Introducing us to Jody, a seemingly worldly map store owner in a small town in the 1980s, and his outgoing friend Carl, Lonely Planet shares with us a secret. Jody hasn't left his store for for very long time. As a result, his knowledge of what is happening to their community is scant. Carl, being his only link to the outside world, decides he must bear witness to what is happening and begins to place the chairs of their fallen friends in the shop. A beautifully simple, yet highly resonant work that still reverberates into today's climate, Lonely Planet is like its stay, short but sweet.