Tommy Murphy has not written a play based on Holding the Man, he has adapted the book. Having said that, this economic style makes for a pacey read and does work well with the choppy episodic nature of the narrative which maybe can also be explained by the pressing need to get the text down on paper. Key amongst its failings are its lack of background, character development and changes in perspective. In the circumstances it would be more comfortable to heap praise on the author and his work but not all duties are entirely agreeable and the book, which is moving and sincere, is no great work of literature.

The theatre programme even suggests that he handed the manuscript to the publisher from his hospice bed only weeks before passing away. Tim Conigrave also went on to develop full blown AIDS and, because he knew he was dying, completing this book became an imperative.

John's progressive illnesses and harrowing treatment are charted in the same level of detail previously given to Tim's sexual exploits and the book essentially ends with John's death in 1992. He becomes much less likable as his willingness to hurt, neglect and cheat on John becomes apparent, and, although John's character is highly idealised and not fully drawn, the change of allegiance comes naturally in the face of Tim's unrelenting self-seeking.Īnother turning point comes when both Tim and John test positive for HIV. Tim goes off to university and drama school, broadening his sexual horizons and becoming something of a gay activist. When Tim falls for John, fellow Jesuit college student and captain of the football team, the focus becomes their relationship which was to last fifteen years in spite of parental disapproval, discrimination, infidelity and separation. The young Tim is endearing, announcing his virility over breakfast the morning after his first wet dream, and although the candid descriptions of his subsequent sexual rites of passage begin to pall, they mark his transition to manhood, and boy or girl, straight or gay, it is easy to empathise with the confusion, curiosity and sexual enthusiasm of adolescence. When he comes to the realisation himself it is sudden, funny and poignant: 'Fuck - I'm a poofter,' he declares, then prays, 'Please God, make me like girls'.

Tim's is a fantasy about comparing erections in the shower and is one of many signposts to his nascent homosexuality. In Holding the Man Tim Conigrave captures the charm of youthful innocence - larking about, illicit cigarettes behind the shed and competing with mates for the biggest penance by making up sins in the confessional.

Holding the Man by Timothy Conigrave