Tony Kushner's epic gay classic Angels In America, perhaps best known to audiences here via its award-winning 2003 screen adaptation, is rarely performed in Australia, something that director Bruce Akers says made him keen to mount the production.

"It is recognised as the bible of gay theatre, but you don't usually get a chance to see it - especially a full-scale production," he says. "A lot of theatre companies won't go near it because of the subject matter."

But the Heidelberg Theatre Company have. Their production of Part 1 of the play, entitled Millennium Approaches, is just weeks from opening night. It's a big ask for a community theatre company, with the mammoth play taking in many fantastical elements - angels, hallucinatory trips to Antarctica - that can prove difficult to negotiate. But Akers is confident that audiences will be blown away by the final product. His actors, in particular, can deliver the goods.

"I think they're all extraordinary performers," he says. "They're drawing on a lot of personal experiences. I'm not even really prepared to ask them where they're getting all this from. I'm very, very impressed by their achievements."

Angels is set in the midst of the initial AIDS crisis of the mid-1980s. Despite the very specific nature of the play - references to McArthyism and Ethel Rosenberg may fly over the heads of some Australian audiences - Akers is adamant that the play is just as relevant today as it was when it was written.

"Oh God yes. AIDS is still out there, intolerance is still out there, prejudice is still out there. Political corruption is out there. It's all still there, unfortunately. I came out through that period, and the initial fear around AIDS has subsided somewhat, but what's replaced it is complacency."

So passionate are Akers and his cast about helping the cause, they are holding two readings of the play (part 1 and part 2, Perestroika) on July 20, with audiences encouraged to make a donation at the door. All money collected will go to the Victorian AIDS Council." I think whatever we raise, the theatre company will most likely match on their own," he says.

For now, though, Akers has a production to mount. Despite the stress involved, he knows he's onto a good thing.

"We did the first run-through last Monday, and I just thought, 'Oh, this is a good show. This'll work!'"

Angels In America: The Millennium Approaches
Heidelberg Theatre Company
Details: 9457 4117

By NICK BOND