Angels in America

Synopsis

Part One: Millennium Approaches. Part Two: Perestroika. Angels in America focuses on the stories of two troubled couples. Louis, his lover Prior and Mormon lawyer Joe and his wife Harper. Prior has AID's, so does Roy, Joe's right-wing, bigoted mentor and friend. Harper is addicted to Valium and suffers anxiety and hallucinations. Louis strays from Prior's bedside to seek anonymous sex in Central Park. The two couples' fates quickly become intertwined. Tony Kushner's uncompromising two part drama is one of the great contemporary plays of recent years. Through interlinking stories and characters, the confusions and contradictions of our times are laid before us in a raw and rapid fire production that will evoke laughter, tears and disbelief through its theatrical achievements. Although set against the backdrop of the Reagan era this is not a history play.

Our Review:

27 June 2007

Unsettling, powerful, moving, ambitious and deeply felt. All the qualities of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America remain apparent in director Daniel Kramer’s revival for the partnership of the Lyric Hammersmith, Headlong Theatre company and the Glasgow Citizens. In addition, there is a renewed pang of historical significance in a drama that defines the AIDS age like no other while digging deep into the American national psyche during the Ronald Reagan presidency, “the end of liberalism” and the impending sense of doom and helplessness.

It was in November 1993 that both parts, Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, were seen together within a few days of each other at the National and on Broadway. Then, I felt Part Two didn’t quite measure up to Part One. Now, the phantasmagorical intensity of the second part is much more persuasive as the stage is overrun with lamentations, storms, transfigurations and reconciliations.

The two essential...

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Latest User Review

Backdrifter - 16 July 2007:

For me, the sense of it being very of its time was too overwhelming. It's a great play, and deserves its accolades but this production didn't cut it. I remember the NT early 90s one zipping along, buzzing with energy and gripping me from early on; this production had none of those attractions. Plus I'm no fan of soul warbling, so presenting some of the Angel's dialogue in that way was grating. I enjoyed Mark Emerson's performance and one or two others but was very disappointed by Greg Hicks, who just didn't convince me as Roy Cohn. His normally clear delivery was thrown off by the (not too great) accent and his physical performance was too like someone in an acting class trying really hard to get top marks. That NT production remains a highlight of my theatregoing experience and I have a lot of affection for this play, but Headlong's production simply didn't engage me, I'm very sorry to say....

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