Love! Valour! Compassion!

Love! Valor! Compassion! (1994), a play by American dramatist, librettist, and screenwriter Terrence McNally, follows a group of friends comprising eight gay men as they spend the Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day weekends at the lakeside home of Gregory Mitchell, a successful but aging choreographer. Earning comparisons to Chekhov, Love! Valor! Compassion! won the Tony Award for Best Play. McNally was inducted to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2018.

The play’s first act takes place over Memorial Day weekend. At the upstate New York vacation home of Gregory Mitchell, a group of friends congregates around a piano. The group includes Gregory’s blind boyfriend, Bobby Brahms, musical-theater fanatic Buzz Hauser (who has recently learned that he is HIV-positive), the long-term well-to-do couple Perry Sellars and Arthur Pape, a sardonic English pianist named John Jeckyll and John’s boyfriend, Puerto Rican Ramon Fornos.

The next scene takes place at night. Bobby comes down to the kitchen, where he bumps into Ramon: passionate sex ensues. When a bottle of milk is broken, Arthur comes to investigate. Ramon flees, but Arthur can see what Bobby has done. As they clean up, Arthur admits that he was once unfaithful too and advises Bobby never to admit his infidelity: “I told him,” he warns Bobby, “and it's never been the same. It's terrific, but it's not the same.”



Now the action of the play returns to the previous day, as the guests arrive one by one. We catch John reading Gregory’s journal. When Buzz also catches John in the act, John begins reading aloud. Buzz reveals that he has had yet another bad break-up.

Gregory and Ramon arrive from a swim in the lake. Ramon, who is younger than his boyfriend, John, is an odd match in other ways too: where John is cynical and humorless, Ramon is cheerful and optimistic. They disagree about almost everything. Ramon is sycophantic in his praise for Gregory, who returns the compliment by praising Ramon’s dance company. Perry, Arthur, and Bobby arrive together. We learn that Bobby has been blind from birth and that Perry and Arthur are deeply in love and committed.

Later that evening, John reveals that his twin brother, James, is dying of AIDS. Gregory tells his guests that he has committed them all to dance in a drag staging of Swan Lake at Carnegie to raise money for AIDS victims. No one is happy about this. Perry’s response reveals some internalized bigotry and embarrasses Arthur. Later Arthur forgives his partner.



At the end of the first act, Buzz addresses the audience again, revealing that the rest of the weekend was washed out by rain. He adds that Gregory spent the days listening to music and waiting for a flash of inspiration that didn’t come.

Act 2 takes place over the Fourth of July weekend. It begins with Gregory, Buzz, Perry, and Arthur playing tennis, while John takes another sneak peek at Gregory’s journal. His brother James is visiting from England, and he and Buzz begin a flirtation. Both have been told by doctors that they should be dead already. When James reveals a lesion on his chest—one of the symptoms of AIDS—Buzz kisses it.

Meanwhile, Bobby reveals that since the previous gathering, Ramon has called him several times, only to hang up when Bobby answers. Although Ramon is still with John, even John recognizes that their relationship is on the rocks. As he wonders what to do about Ramon, Bobby receives a phone call: his sister has been killed in a freak accident.



The other guests offer to leave, but Bobby insists that they stay. Confused by grief, Bobby confesses to Gregory about his encounter with Ramon. Angry, Gregory tells Bobby to go to his family in Texas.

Ramon lures Arthur into an underwater kiss. Later, Perry and Buzz hide in John’s closet and witness John and Ramon engage in an interrogation-themed roleplay, during which John describes his first sexual experience and accuses Ramon of being in love with Bobby. Afterward, John finds the spies in his closet. He spits in Perry’s face, saying that he wishes Perry would die of AIDS.

Bobby tells Ramon firmly that he doesn’t want to be with him. Gregory forgives Bobby’s unfaithfulness. Perry and Arthur celebrate their 14th anniversary. Buzz and James join them for a dance while Gregory and Ramon watch them.



Act 3 begins on a heavy note. Gregory cannot find inspiration. Bobby’s unfaithfulness weighs on him. James is becoming ill. John remains in love with Ramon, who still yearns for Bobby.

After another unproductive morning, Gregory comes into the kitchen to find Ramon making coffee and talking about his early career in dancing. Suddenly, Gregory seizes Ramon’s arm, forcing it into the garbage disposal. Perry and Buzz hurry in and stand helplessly by as Gregory forces Ramon to confess to seducing Bobby. After Ramon’s confession, Gregory releases him and returns to his studio with a renewed purpose.

In the evening, John joins his brother in his bedroom, where James is shaking with fever. John confesses that he has always envied his brother, who “got the good soul.” He begs James to tell him the secret of his lovableness. James kisses his brother’s hand as John apologies for all his mistreatment of James. They cry together.



Gregory choreographs feverishly in his studio. Perry, Arthur, and Ramon watch through the windows, astonished by the older man’s skill and passion. Recognizing that he is too old to dance the part he has created, Gregory asks Ramon in to dance it for him.

The play ends as the men rehearse for the AIDS benefit: all the men (except Perry) take the stage in ballerina’s garb. One by one, they address the audience, revealing their futures. Perry and Arthur will live for another thirty years and die, still together. Buzz will die “soon. Sooner than I thought, even.” James apologizes to Buzz for fleeing to England, hoping to find a cure for his disease. Ramon tells us that he will die in a plane crash. Bobby will separate from Gregory who will “bury every one of you.”

The lights go out and the men go outside to look at the moon. They strip to swim in the lake.