Love
To an extent, the play thematically does exactly what is says on the can; the theme of love is announced in the title and it is the primary theme of a play that is essentially about the different kinds of love that bind together different kinds of relationships.
All of the characters are friends who have been a closely bonded group for years, almost like family they have chosen. Gregory, the central character, is deeply in love with his partner, Bobby, who is much younger than he is, and he is also painfully aware that with that depth of love comes the capacity to be deeply hurt. Bobby has hurt him deeply by cheating on him, and this is something that Gregory is still trying to come to terms with.
Buzz, on the other hand, has convinced himself that love is not for him and that any chance of true love has actually passed him by. John's brother James refutes this; he is gentle and kind and convinces Buzz that love is part of his future after all, even though both know it won't last that long because both men have AIDS.
As well as romantic love in the play there is also a great deal of platonic love, and the characters are also men who act from a place of love in their lives.
Compassion
John is the most obvious example of compassion in the play, which on the fact of it is strange; he is the most sick of the characters, yet it is he who gently helps Buzz to navigate falling in love and is generous in his relationship with him. Buzz also shows James a great deal of compassion because he can see that his disease is quite advanced, but never treats him any differently.
The other guests at the house are also very compassionate towards Gregory who is going through a difficult time emotionally since Bobby's betrayal. There is not real explosion of anger; everything is treated with a sincerity and a compassion that makes it easy to see why the group have remained friends for such a long time.
Valor
Valor might be an unlikely theme for a play that is more or less a love story; there are no knights of the realm on horses, heading to battle, after all, and this is the arena in which we tend to think that valor applies the most. However, in its truest sense, valor is a willingness to confront agony, uncertainty or the threat of death, and the characters in the play have to confront all of these things. For example, James and Buzz allow themselves to fall in love even though both knows it will be short lived, and that it will result in a great deal of emotional pain for Buzz who will most likely be the one left behind after James' death.
