10 and 17 September, NT Live, Dendy Opera Quays
Set in 1980s America, under Reagan and in the midst of the AIDS crisis, this epic two-part play tells the story of urbane thirty-year-old Prior who is diagnosed with AIDS, and his lover Louis who can't deal with the reality of Prior's illness. Their lives intertwine with depressed Harper, who is married to Joe, a closeted gay man seen as a future potential star by conservative power player Ray Cohn. And then Prior becomes convinced he's seen an Angel...
I love this play for the way it draws these complex, often contradictory characters with compassion, and the way it's unafraid to talk about big ideas and tackle huge themes, mixing reality with fantasia as it questions the nature of the American dream. Running over six hours long - or over seven hours for this broadcast - it's a massive canvas which, when done well, feels vital and energised from start to finish. Though sadly, in the over twenty years since it premiered, it seems in some respects the world hasn't progressed very far at all.
My expectations were reasonably high for this NT Live production (filmed for international broadcast) of Tony Kushner's now-iconic play - it has quite the star-studded cast, featuring Andrew Garfield as Prior, Russell Tovey as Joe, and Nathan Lane as Cohn, and it's lavishly staged. The design is quite clean and minimalist, incorporating many moving parts - sets moving in and out and up and down, accentuated by neon. All the ingredients seemed to be in place for a great production of one of my favourite plays.
And yet, overall, it didn't quite hit the mark for me. I found the staging distracting at times, the way they broke up the stage into little mini-stages for the first half especially a waste of the large space.
The performances were solid as a whole, but I felt that most of them started at a high pitch, leaving the performers little choice but to stay at that pitch or to edge upwards into hysteria. Garfield, as the emotional centre of the play, isn't bad but seems to spend most of the play yelling or crying which grew wearying. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as nurse Belize probably comes off best by contrast, the grounding presence to the histrionics around him. Worst of all were the scenes when multiple conversations happen at once - these often felt like people just shouting over each other.
Mostly, I couldn't help but compare this production to the Eamon Flack-directed Belvoir St Theatre production of 2013 - my favourite production that year, and in hindsight one of my favourites ever. I connected so deeply to the performances by Luke Mullins, Mitchell Butel, Amber McMahon, and the rest; and I felt that they did so much with so much less, using one small stage to fantastic effect, achieving the illusion of multiple settings through simple prop changes and contextual framing.
When the material is as good and complex as this, and also as long and challenging as this, a million bells and whistles don't help or enhance if the fundamentals aren't all there.
The NT Live staging is not at all a bad production, I really want to say that, and if this is your opportunity to see Angels in America then by all means take it! It's a play worth seeing, for sure. But I'd then encourage you to seek out other takes.
I also want to lodge my strongest objection to NT Live's practice of framing its products with talking heads introductory content and interviews with cast and crew, even down to having part 2 preceded by a "previously in Angels in America" clip. This is SO UNNECESSARY on so many levels. Firstly we are already here, we don't need to be sold the product again - DID U KNOW people go to the actual live theatre all the time, and don't need to be spoonfed every little thing before it starts? Secondly it rips away the illusion that we are at the theatre at all. Thirdly, please, this thing is already over six hours long, why are you padding it out with even more content? NT Live, please take a leaf from Globe Shakespeare or the ballet companies - just show the thing as it is, no need for extra nonsense. Much like the play itself.
Links:
What can Angels in America teach us about the marriage equality debate?
Oral History of Angels in America
2017 NT Live
Cast:
Stuart Angell (Angel Shadow), Mark Arnold (Understudy Roy Cohn), Arun Blair-Mangat (Understudy Belize), Susan Brown (Hannah Pitt), Laura Caldow (Angel Shadow), Andrew Garfield (Prior Walter), Denise Gough (Harper Pitt), Kate Harper (Understudy Hannah Pitt), John Hastings (Understudy Joseph Pitt / Louis Ironson), Claire Lambert (Angel Shadow), Nathan Lane (Roy Cohn), Amanda Lawrence (The Angel), James McArdle (Louis Ironson), Becky Namgauds (Angel Shadow), Mateo Oxley (Understudy Prior Walter), Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Belize), Russell Tovey (Joseph Pitt), Paksie Vernon (Understudy Harper Pitt), Stan West (Angel Shadow), Lewis Wilkins (Angel Shadow).
Production team:
Director: Marianne Elliott; Set Designer: Ian MacNeil; Costume Designer: Nicky Gillibrand; Lighting Designer: Paule Constable; Choreographer and Movement: Robby Graham; Music: Adrian Sutton; Sound Designer: Ian Dickinson; Puppetry Director and Movement: Finn Caldwell; Puppet Designers: Finn Caldwell and Nick Barnes; Illusions: Chris Fisher; Aerial Director: Gwen Hales; Associate Director: Harry Mackrill; Staff Director: Miranda Cromwell; Fight Director: Kate Waters; Dialect Coach: Hazel Holder; Company Voice Work: Jeanette Nelson and Charmian Hoare; Associate Set Designer: Jim Gaffney
2013 Belvoir
By Tony Kushner
Director Eamon Flack
Set Designer Michael Hankin
Costume Designer Mel Page
Lighting Designer Niklas Pajanti
Associate Lighting Designer Ross Graham
Composer Alan John
Sound Designer Steve Francis
Assistant Director Shelly Lauman
Fight Director Scott Witt
American Dialect Coach Paige Walker-Carlton
Stage Manager Mel Dyer
Assistant Stage Manager Roxzan Bowes
Special thanks to: Reuze Vintage
Paula Arundell
Mitchell Butel
Marcus Graham
Amber McMahon
Luke Mullins
Robyn Nevin
DeObia Oparei
Ashley Zukerman
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