A powerful portrayal of the human impact of the 1980s Aids epidemic was brought to the stage by Stage Door Entertainment with a show that is bursting with heart.

Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens is a celebration and tribute to the thousands of lives lost to the disease.

It features songs and monologues inspired by the NAMES Project Aids Memorial Quilt,which was started in the 1980s and has grown to consist of nearly 50,000 panels dedicated to more than 110,000 individuals.

Elegies focuses on a small but diverse range of people from all walks of life.

Each of the characters sit on stage for the entire production and take it in turns to tell their story.

They range from the drag queen Roscoe (Vida La Fierce) who wanted to ensure no one would forget her to Tina (Megan Hills) a woman who killed herself before getting her test results.

There’s the caring nurse Nancy (Larissa Lyons) on the Aids ward who sealed her own fate by accidentally pricking herself with a needle and Nick (Mark Dougherty), who knowingly slept with men to pass HIV on to others.

Then there’s the haemophiliac’s wife who lost her two children as well as her husband, Rebecca (Rachael Braidwood).

Themes of stigma, injustice, fear and anger appear in many of the monologues.

The one that hit hardest for me was the young girl who died in hospital alone with no family beside her, Katie (Alexis Wilson).

With her hair in bunches, she really was a picture of childhood innocence, and a stark reminder of just how brutally unfair life can be.

Thankfully, there are many lighter moments too – and they were all well-timed.

Of these, I particularly enjoyed ‘Spend It While You Can’, which saw big spender Joanne (Beth Thomas)) deciding to indulge her love of shopping.

The show, produced and directed by Lisa Kreisky and Kristene Sutcliffe, is different to anything I’ve seen before.

The pared back set, the low key costumes (each character wore black with a hint of red), and the music featuring just two musicians - Claire Temple on piano and Kirsty Lawrence on cello - meant all the focus was on the characters.

And each and every one of them felt so real.

Elegies ends with a big bang - when all the characters, for the first time, join in song together for ‘Learning to Let It Go’.

It was a truly emotive performance - I’d challenge anyone not to be moved by it.