This is a story about a virus, my virus. It came to live with me on a dark and stormy night in late August 1998. I thought at first that I should keep it to myself. But it wouldn`t let me. It told me, everyone has a right to express themselves, that condoms are the work of the devil, the new Pope is a diamond geezer, I should avoid taking drugs and monogamous relationships, and that form is no other than emptiness and emptiness no other than form. I shouldn`t call it it, it`s not an it, it doesn`t really like me calling it it. It`s a CAP and it`s a GAG and it`s a POL. It might be my virus, but it`s not my story. VIRAL SUTRA is the story of my virus, a virus that refuses to be called `it`.

VIRAL SUTRA: The story of an everyday HIV virus struggling for survival, wondering about God, the nature of self, the reason for existence, and the threat posed by readily available condoms .

AUGUST 1998: HIV contracted by David Carter.

FEBRUARY 2003: AIDS contracted by David Carter.

APRIL 2003: ARV medication administered to David Carter.

2004: DAVID CARTER writes DEATH AND LIFE AND IN BETWEEN which is performed in Bristol (The Alma) and Bath (The Rondo).

2004: DAVID CARTER writes RECEPTION which is performed in Bristol as part of the THEATRE WEST season and later show cased by OUT OF JOINT and the SOHO THEATRE COMPANY at the SOHO THEATRE.

FEBRUARY 2005: DAVID CARTER writes VIRAL SUTRA.

VIRUS: Group of submicroscopic entities capable of replication only within the cells of a living organism.

SUTRA: A collection of sayings or stories.

DAVID CARTER: The living organism.

CAP, GAG, POL: The submicroscopic entities.

NOVEMBER 2005: VIRAL SUTRA performed as part of the THEATRE WEST season in Bristol.

2006: VIRAL SUTRA performed at the Bristol Old Vic and The Finborough Theatre London.