Reviewed by James Karas
If you want to see Tony Kushner’s epic plays Angels in America, you will have to devote two evenings and more than seven hours of intense attention. There are two parts, Angels in America, Part One, Millennium Approaches and Part Two, Perestroika. Kushner subtitles his doubleheader A Gay Fantasia on National Themes and that should give you a small handle on what to look for.
The pair of plays opened in 1991 and deal with a broad spectrum of American social issues with a focus on the AIDS epidemic of the time, homosexuality and the rise of conservatism. That Theatre Company and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre give the plays a highly effective if pared down production in the latter company’s tiny theatre on Alexander Street in Toronto.
The two plays contain numerous scenes and a complex plot that is not easily summarized but I will mention a few items to give some idea of the breadth of the play.
Kushner deals brutally, graphically and unapologetically with homosexuality and the AIDS epidemic and much more. There are eight actors who play some twenty characters. The plays go from the harshly realistic to the surreal with pungent remarks about political and social life during Ronald Reagan’s presidency and supernatural events like the appearance of angels and the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, the American traitor who passed secrets about the atomic bomb to the Soviets. She was executed partly and perhaps mainly because of Roy Cohn, one of the lawyers who prosecuted her.
Prior Walters is a homosexual in the 20th century (played by Allister MacDonald) but also appears as a thirteenth century ghost (played by Wade Bogert-O’Brien who also plays Joe) and a seventeenth century wigged aristocratic ghost played by Jim Mezon who also plays Roy Cohn. It gets complicated, no?
The best-known character in the play is Roy Cohn, a powerful lawyer, a bisexual who denied vehemently any sexual contact with men and died of AIDS. He was a malevolent, vile and vicious man, a Rottweiler, a fraudster, an egomaniac and the quintessence of evil. Jim Mezon gives a stunning performance, capturing the evil forcefulness of Cohn with bruising effectiveness.
In his final appearance in Perestroika, we see Cohn in a hospital bed visited by Ethel Rosenberg. He hallucinates or pretends that she is his mother and begs her to sing to him. She does and it seems that he is dead but he bolts up and triumphantly announces that he fooled her and got her to sing to him. She gets the pleasure of telling him that he has been disbarred. He dies.
Joe (Wade Bogart-O’Brien) is one of the main characters, a friend of Cohn’s who tries to manipulate him. Joe is a lawyer clerking for an appellate judge, a Mormon married to the valium-addicted Harper (Christine Horne) and a homosexual who vehemently denies it. Joes goes for long walks in Central Park and comes out of the closet and falls in love with Louis. He is abandoned by him for political reasons. Joe is a conservative and a friend of the despicable Cohn. He tries to reconcile with his wife but nothing works for him. Bogart-O’Brien gives a stellar performance.
Joe’s wife Harper (Christine Horne) has serious problems with addiction and a husband who goes out for mysterious walks in Central Park. She hallucinates about going to the Antarctic. She has sex and imagines being in heaven but all she wants is to be in San Francisco. We presume she overcomes her hallucinations and does end up in San Francisco.
Belize (Kaleb Alexander) is a decent and caring registered nurse who has a lot stacked against him. He is black, a former drag queen, gay and decent in an indecent world. He is assigned to look after Cohn in the hospital and has enough decency to do it. Alexander also plays the flamboyant Mr. Lies, Harper’s imaginary friend who emerges from a trap door on the stage to be with her. Superb performance.
Louis (Ben Sanders) is an idealistic Jew in love with Prior Walter but when the latter contracts AIDS, he abandons him. Louis does achieve maturity and displays faith in American democracy that is buffeted by the conservatives during Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the mid 1980’s. Ironically, it is as if nothing has changed in the last forty years. Superb performance by Sanders who also plays the ghost of Prior Walter in an unrecognizable English accent.
Prior Walter (Allister MacDonald) retains his decency despite being rejected by his lover on account of his AIDS. After his death, he returns as a ghost on two occasions played by different actors. Prior is made a prophet by the Angel but he rejects it. In the end Louis tries to rekindle the old love and relationship. Prior generously avows that he loves Louis but rejects any idea of reconciliation. Marvelous performance
The Angel (Soo Garay) is a mysterious and intriguing figure. Her wings have been clipped or fallen off and she has the barest indication of them. She wants to make Prior Walter a prophet but he rejects her.
Director Craig Pike must organize the actors and the action of a complex play in a small rectangular playing area with the audience perched on each side. The advantage is that the audience is very close to the actors but the disadvantage is that we look at the back of one actor when two of them are seated on the stage facing each other. Unless the actors are moving around, this is unavoidable but undesirable.
There is very little room for a set of almost any kind except for two beds at opposite ends of the rectangle that are wheeled in and out as required and a few chairs being placed on the stage for some scenes and removed by the actors when they walk off. This is what I mean by a pared down version.
Angels in America, Parts One and Two is a complex play with numerous characters and
frequent scene changing. It is done on an almost bare stage and it requires
close attention to keep up with the people and events. But it is theatre of
high quality and That Theatre Company and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre deserve
a standing ovation for the production.
Angels in America: Part One: Millennium Approaches and Part Two: Perestroika by Tony Kushner continue until December 17, 2023, at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander Street, Toronto, Ontario. www.buddiesinbadtimes.com
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