Engel in Amerika (Angels in America)
by Tony Kushnerby Tony Kushner
3 Breaks
Content description
«Part I: The Turn of the Century Approaches»
«Part II: Perestroika»
Tony Kushner's imaginative theatrical epic is an analysis of a society afflicted with its own ills, dating back to the birth of Reagan-era neoliberalism.
The outbreak of AIDS rocks New York City. Louis panics and leaves his sick boyfriend Prior, falling in love with conservative lawyer Joe. Joe's professional mentor is Roy Cohn, a Republican lawyer who is also infected with HIV and denies his diagnosis until his last breath. Then an angel breaks through Prior's bedroom ceiling. Is salvation in sight?
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Mid-1980s: The outbreak of AIDS rocks New York. Louis, the offspring of a large Jewish family, panics and leaves his sick boyfriend Prior, and gets together with Joe, a conservative Mormon lawyer. Joe's drug-addicted wife Harper takes refuge in her dreams of eternal ice, while his devout mother Hannah arrives from Salt Lake City in a state of agitation. The power-hungry and cynical Republican Roy Cohn, also a lawyer, insists until his last breath that he is neither gay nor infected with AIDS, and even on his deathbed engages in heated verbal exchanges with his black nurse Belize. And then an angel breaks through the ceiling of Prior's bedroom.
«You're afraid. So am I. Everyone is in the land of freedom. God help us all.»
Tony Kushner's imaginative theatrical epic, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993, dates back to the birth of neoliberalism, the Reagan era. «Angels in America» is still a valid, unsparing analysis of a society that carries a collective infection and struggles to accept its existence. The fact that Kushner created a literary monument to Roy Cohn, the former lawyer of former US President Donald Trump, is much more than a nod to contemporary history.
Australian director Simon Stone reads Kushner from the perspective of our millennium, in which the neoliberal spirit has taken root unchallenged in all areas of life. His Nestroy Prize-winning production is now coming to Munich, where the AIDS memorial by artist Wolfgang Tillmans stands in a prominent place in the city, commemorating the victims of the disease and the people who live with AIDS today.
Matthew Lopez's play «The Legacy» which is also in the Residenztheater's repertoire, can be read as a loose continuation of «Angels in America».
Translated by Frank Heibert
PART I: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES approx. 2 hours and 20 minutes, one interval
PART II: PERESTROIKA approx. 2 hours and 20 minutes, one interval
Duration Parts I and II: approx. 5 hours and 30 minutes including intervals
The mid-1980s: the outbreak of the disease AIDS alarms New York. Louis, son of a wealthy Jewish family, abandons his sick boyfriend Prior and starts a relationship with conservative Mormon lawyer Joe. When Joe’s drug-dependent wife Harper retreats into dreams of everlasting ice, his strictly religious mother flies in outraged from Salt Lake City. The Republican Roy Cohn, a cynical and power-obsessed lawyer, insists until his last breath that he is not gay and does not have AIDS. Even on his deathbed, he refuses to stop arguing about this with his black nurse Belize. And then an angel breaks through Prior’s bedroom ceiling.
«You’re scared. So am I. Everyone is in the land of freedom. God help us all.»
Tony Kushner’s theatrical epic won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993. Set in the Reagan era, it was written against the background of nascent neo-liberalism. «Angels in America» still provides an accurate and unsparing analysis of a society that is the carrier for a collective disease whose existence it struggles to accept. The fact that Kushner created a literary portrait of Roy Cohn here, the former lawyer of a subsequent US President, is much more than a wink from history.
The Australian director Simon Stone reads Kushner from the perspective of our millennium, in which the spirit of neo-liberalism has taken up residence in every aspect of our lives with no resistance. His Nestroy Prize-winning production now comes to Munich, a city where the prominent location of Aids Memorial by the artist Wolfgang Tillmans reminds us of the victims of this disease and those people who continue to live with AIDS today.
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