Twenty years on, epic Angels still has the power to move us
BUMPED into Rufus Norris, the director of the National Theatre, on Saturday, after spending an exhilarating seven-and-a-half hours watching Marianne Elliott’s production of Tony Kushner’s epic two-part Angels In America. And I told him I thought it could have been written today: it was that fresh.
Norris said he, too, was struck by the fact that a work over 20 years old could contain echoes of events happening now: here and in the u.S. and Europe.
Andrew Garfield gives a performance of masterful dexterity as Prior Walter — a young man in New York coping with the shock of the AIDS crisis (and hallucinations) — in the plays, which are running in the Lyttelton auditorium.
And how fitting that Nathan Lane should flee Donald Trump’s America to come to work at the NT — for basic leading man pay! — for several months. Lane portrays Roy Cohn, one of the most lethal lawyers ever to have practised in the u.S. He also mentored Donald Trump; and Lane absolutely nails him.
Performances across the board were excellent: Denise Gough as Harper Pitt, a woman so high on Valium she can no longer tell the difference between her dreams and reality. Her Mormon husband Joe, captured to a T by Russell Tovey and James McArdle: superb as Prior’s lover — who also has a thing for Joe.
There’s outstanding work, too, from Nathan Stewart- Jarrett as the sassy nurse Belize, who does not miss a comic beat. And Amanda Lawrence, who soars as an angel.
But I’d like to give special mention to Susan Brown, who plays Joe Pitt’s mother, who is trying to find out what on earth is going on with her son. I’ve seen Ms Brown in a lot of plays, but I believe this is the performance of her life.
Towards the end of the evening, Prior Walter says that the world must continue to spin forward. It can’t go back, as some of our leaders want it to.
It was a battle cry; and the audience (including Tamsin Greig and Emma Stone) were witness to the power of art to transform.
Tickets are few and far between (although it’s worth checking the NT’s website), but you can watch Angels In America when it’s shown in cinemas via NT Live from July 20.