Angels in America, Tony Kushner’s award-winning epic at National Theatre, describes the impact of Aids on the gay community in San Francisco in the 1970s, and the corresponding inaction of the Reagan administration. It is divided into two parts: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika.
Kushner, writing in anger and compassion, hope and despair, deals with politics, history, sex, racism and religion. His “gay fantasia” has a vast canvas. There are 30 characters: Jews, Mormons, ghosts and angels wander into each other’s dreams and hallucinations. The episodic action sprawls; scenes overlap, interlock and happen concurrently.
