The Laramie Project comes to Brighton : Remember Matthew Shepard?

On October 7, 1998, a young gay man was discovered bound to a fence in the hills outside Laramie, Wyoming, savagely beaten and left to die in an act of brutality and hate that shocked the nation.

Matthew Shepard’s death provoked extreme reactions – from the GOD HATES FAGS preaching of Rev Fred Phelps to national outpouring of revulsion against hate – but for the people of Laramie the event was deeply personal and it’s their voices we hear in this stunningly effective theatre piece.

Moises Kaufman and his New York Tectonic Theatre Project travelled to Laramie four weeks after the murder. Over the following eighteen months, they interviewed more than 200 people affected by the death, thus bearing witness to the massive impact on that all-American town and its search for truth and reconciliation, while all America and the whole world was watching.

The Academy of Creative Trainings (ACT) revival of this astonishing piece comes 15 years after the original events.

Matthew Shepard would have been 37 on December 1, 2013 – World AIDS day – so ACT are raising money for the Terrence Higgins Trust in his memory. Watch out for the ANGEL ACTION on the streets of Brighton and Hove on Sunday, December 1.

Moises Kaufman, said: “We tried to tell the story of the town of Laramie. As opposed to telling the story of Matthew Shepard.”

Directed for the Academy of Creative Training by Janette Eddisford, this challenging piece will be performed in the round at the Nightingale Theatre.

“Deeply moving….this play is Our Town with a question mark, as in could this be our town?” New York Times

“You should not miss a theatrical and human event that deserves standing up for with applause, or better, silently, taking an important lesson profoundly to heart.” New York Magazine