ATP’s ‘Casey and Diana’ gives inside look at first Canadian AIDS hospice

In 1991, Princess Diana visited Casey House in Toronto, the first AIDS hospice in Canada.

Today, Casey House is a place of healing for people living with HIV. In the early 90’s it was a place people went to die.

Diana’s visit broke the mold on how people thought about AIDS patients.

Casey and Diana at Alberta Theatre Projects reflects on the week at Casey House leading up to her arrival.

While director Lana Michelle Hughes says while the penultimate moment is Diana’s influence on perception of the disease, the show tells the history of the moment in time.

“And that’s the tragedy, to me, of what’s forgotten; not so much that Diana visited, but the great tragedy of the loss of all these men and all these people, people that would have been mentors to me, artists, and actors, and all kinds of people that we lost at this time,” she said.

With modern treatments available for HIV and AIDS, it is perhaps easy to forget the very real fear about the illness that alienated patients from even their closest friends and family. She says that even extended to health care settings.

“In my research, I found that even in hospitals where nurses could have worn full PPE, they were afraid to go into the room,” Hughes said. “So they would leave the food outside of the room to the patient, and the patients were often too weak to go up and get it.”

Diana physically exposing herself to the patients at Casey House and embracing and holding their hands shifted that perception outside of the hospice.

But within the hospice, Hughes says her visit caused something called ‘the Diana effect.’

The turnover of men dying at Casey House was quick; one weekend alone, four men died in the 13 room facility

But, “when the men found out that she was coming for that full week, nobody died,” Hughes added.

She says the hope to meet the princess buoyed spirits in the face of the inevitable.

Hughes says the play has surprises, magic, great characters, and is a reflection of the present.

“There are a lot of people who are being dehumanized. And there’s a lot of narratives around people who should and shouldn’t be places. And I think the parallels are striking, actually, if you really think about it,” she said. “So I hope that people sort of walk away thinking that they can face this moment in history with love and resolve.”

Casey and Diana runs at Alberta Theatre Projects until March 15. Tickets at can be found here.