The cast of last year’s Union Theatre production of the moving song cycle Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens have recorded a song from the show to raise funds for NHS workers and theatre freelancers.
With all funds raised to be split evenly between NHS Charities Together and Funds for Freelancers, the song ‘Heroes’ is taken from the Tony-nominated tribute to those who have died from AIDS and the loved ones they left behind. You can donate HERE.
NHS Charities Together is providing relief for NHS workers in areas not covered by regular funding including providing comfortable spaces where NHS staff and volunteers can take breaks, providing tablets to patients, staff and volunteers to allow them to stay in contact with their loved ones, and offering counselling to staff and volunteers on the frontline in the war against coronavirus.
Funds for Freelancers is the new charity initiative set up by the Turbine Theatre and led by Paul Taylor-Mills, Helen Clarkson, Sasha Regan and Sita McIntosh to help those in the industry facing hardship in the wake of the theatre closedown.
Featuring lyrics and a book by Bill Russell and music by Janet Hood, the collection of monologues and songs was inspired by the San Francisco-led NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and the poetry of American writer Edgar Lee Masters.
Originally entitled The Quilt and developed in the 1980s at the height of the AIDS pandemic, Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens was first seen in New York in 1989. The show debuted in London at the King’s Head three years later and transferred to the Criterion Theatre for a short run in June 1993.
The show returned to the Criterion Theatre for a star-studded special performance in May 2015 to raise funds for MAD Trust (the UK based charity involved in the fight against HIV and AIDS).
Also produced in support of the MAD Trust, the new version of the show which played London’s Union Theatre in 2019 was directed by Bryan Hodgson.
Angela Thomas
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