DINO FETSCHER
After roles in TV’s Gentleman Jack, Years and Years and Humans, Dino Fetscher will star at the National Theatre in seminal gay play The Normal Heart. He tells Attitude why its message is as relevant as ever
On appearing in the new stage version of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart
We may be in the grip of a global pandemic, but Dino Fetscher looks well. Very well. Sitting in a sun-filled room overlooking the Thames, he positively crackles with energy as he enthuses about his current project. He’s on a lunch break from rehearsing The Normal Heart, a play by Larry Kramer that was first staged in New York City in 1985, at the height of the HIV/Aids crisis.
For Fetscher, a former Mr Gay UK, to find himself on stage at the National Theatre is the realisation of a lifelong ambition – but it hasn’t always been an easy path. “I’ve wanted to be an actor since I was about six,” he says. “I’ve had a funny journey [towards] it. I acted until I was 15, then I had a really awkward, teenage phase when I just didn’t want people to look at me. I was chubby and had bad spots, and I stopped acting for some time.
But when I turned 18, I realised it was what I really wanted to pursue, so after doing some am-dram, I trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. I’ve acted professionally ever since.”
Largely autobiographical and pulling no punches, The Normal Heart follows the trials and tribulations of writer Ned Weeks as he struggles to address the rising HIV/Aids epidemic. It falls to him to not only communicate the situation to the homophobic, straight society of the time, but also to convince a recently liberated gay community of the threat hurtling towards them.
“Gay men were advised to reduce the amount of sex they were having,” explains Fetscher. “They were coming out of the ’70s, when there had been this whole gay sexual revolution. That was our way of expressing our freedom; sex was a political act. To then be told all of a sudden that it’s potentially killing you – it was very difficult to hear.”
The situation wasn’t helped by the fact that the American government refused to step in with any clear guidance, and it took years from the first reported cases in 1981 to then-President Ronald Reagan even deigning to mention it publicly in 1985, let alone to start addressing the situation. By this time, more than 12,000 Americans had already died, and it was spreading like wildfire.
The refusal of the American government or medical establishment to engage with the growing state of emergency initially motivated Larry Kramer to found the activist group the Gay Men’s Health Crisis. When it became clear that this organisation wasn’t willing to tackle the issue aggressively enough for Kramer’s tastes, he founded the legendary Aids Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT UP, whose slogan ‘Silence = Death’ became the clarion call for Aids activists internationally.
“ACT UP was one of the most successful effective acts of political activism in history,” says Fetscher. “It changed how pharmaceutical companies produced drugs and forced the government to respond to the crisis. It put gay men in the spotlight. They refused to sit down – and they saved millions of lives. To be a part of telling that story – it’s an important job.”
Fetscher highlights how the history of gay activism resonates beyond the Aids crisis.
“It’s important to acknowledge how this kind of movement was responsible for bringing us to where we are today. All the rights and liberties we have now are because these people had the courage to speak up when
“Sex was a political act. To then be told that it’s potentially killing you — it was very difficult to hear”
it wasn’t popular, when we were shunned by society. You can get on a plane and go to countries where it’s still illegal to be gay, where it’s punishable by death. It’s important to remember that we earned these liberties, we earned these human rights. We need to have an awareness of that, because they’re not a given, and they need to be protected. We always need to be vigilant.”
Fetscher plays Weeks’ boyfriend, Felix Turner, a closeted writer at The New York Times, who he credits as the emotional heart of the play, underscoring the fact that, in a sign of the times, Felix was required to hide his sexuality. “I’ve done a lot of research into the world of the play; the fact is, you couldn’t be out in New York City in the early ’80s, working somewhere like The New York Times. If you said you were gay, you’d lose your job. There was a burgeoning gay scene there, but it operated very differently – everything was very compartmentalised. Felix had his straight life at The New York Times, then he had his gay life. It was just how a lot of people had to operate because of the mechanics of society.”
This is in sharp contrast to the Ned Weeks character, played by Ben Daniels in this production, and based largely on the playwright Larry Kramer. “He had the luxury of being so open because he’d written an Academy Award-nominated screenplay and a book, and his money had been wellinvested by his brother. So, he had money and security – but Felix had come from nothing and had fought tooth and nail to get where he was. I’m fortunate to live in a time where I can be openly gay. We’ve come so far.”
Yet coming out remains challenging, even now. “I had that terror of coming out,” admits Fetscher. “There was a long period I didn’t tell people. I didn’t have to experience the kind of prejudice and leap over the hurdles these people had to. It’s so much more accepted. I came out at 17, but I was fully in the closet up till then. Then I came out to everyone – I smashed the doors off the closet. It was something that had been building up for so long. It was affecting my mental health. I was really difficult. I was getting in trouble at school. Looking back with hindsight, I felt so much anger and confusion and fear. My poor parents!”
Fetscher is respectful of how differently people approach their journey to opening up about their sexual or gender identity. “It’s a very personal journey,” he says. “People can get angry about people not coming out. It’s amazing when people do come out – there’s such power in it, especially people with public platforms. But we have to understand everyone has very specific circumstances linked to their own psychologies and mental health, so it’s up to that person to do it in their own time. But then also – come the fuck out!”
For Fetscher, the National Theatre’s production of The Normal Heart feels particularly timely in 2021. “It’s 40 years since the first reported cases of Aids, and there’s a whole generation of younger people who are completely unaware of what happened. That’s really important – teaching people about what came before us. We’re in the midst of another battle of man-versus-microbe.
“Looking back at the story, it’s amazing how divisive Aids was in our society. I can see lots of parallels with our current situation; there’s so much fear. What this story explores is how much power we have when we stand up and band together. With Covid, we’ve seen lots of division, and it’s important to remember that we have one unified cause, and that’s to get through this. To help one another.”
“At 17 I came out to everyone — I smashed the doors off the closet. It was something that had been building up for so long. It was affecting my mental health”
“We earned these human rights. They’re not a given and they need to be protected”