tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post4176215685920432963..comments2024-01-20T16:46:43.636+11:00Comments on Kevin Jackson's Theatre Diary: Angels in AmericaGeorge Khuthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220918958933755405noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post-23863498219189803842013-07-26T20:11:19.374+10:002013-07-26T20:11:19.374+10:00Your experience at the 1990s productions mirrored ...Your experience at the 1990s productions mirrored mine, except that I could not face the plays then because they seemed like entertainment more than anything else and I could not bear to face what seemed like a show business spin off of what seemed like ceaseless death and permanent loss. Your review made me realize that much that was written then is now waiting to be analyzed and appreciated if not necessarily enjoyed. I am glad these plays are there, now, but I resented them back then, when they seemed to distract people from what was happening right in front of them, but 20 years later they serve the essential purpose of providing a record. Marc Ellisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post-12256243840113945052013-07-18T02:28:30.914+10:002013-07-18T02:28:30.914+10:00"Overwrought, coarse, posturing, formulaic me..."Overwrought, coarse, posturing, formulaic mess..."<br /> I'm glad that you have included this dissenting voice in your review, Kevin. And I wonder what led you to it; led you to acknowledge in this review that a different response (punchy, eloquent and memorable) exists. I loved the Belvoir "Angels", and I share many of your particular enthusiasms, as expressed in your thorough, wide-ranging and very personal reflections. But there were times - especially in PERESTROIKA - when I felt that the ideas coming our way were like birds wanting to land somewhere near us earthlings but not quite having the strength to make a final descent.I saw lots of flutter but then everything got lost again among the clouds...Now that may be because I was not up on this occasion to Mr Kushner's challenge. And sure, a great work draws us to it again and agin, to consider its complexity at our leisure. But I have to acknowledge that at times I listened and wondered and couldn't decipher, - and so can see why someone might want to slam it as a mess. As for the other adjectives - well, I can't with any ease recall a 'formulaic' quality; 'coarse'? - well, this aint a play about schnitzel with noodles; 'posturing'? Perhaps this is a reference to the anger that fuels so much of the action, and I had no trouble - given what Kushner provides as socio/political background, and what he shows in the way of human degradation and suffering - in empathizing with the place of this kind of posturing at any place in the play; and "overwrought"? well, that word suggests a superfluity , an excess, and I would say in defence of Mr Kushner's creation, that despite its emotionalism, I would have been happy if it had run another hour: so compelling were these lives in alltheir struggles and dreams , that had been created before us.<br /> An exhilarating two nights in the theatre, where we saw performances to be treasured. When are we likely again to see a performance such as that by Deobia Operai, where every word felt exactly right, where so many lines shone with dangerous irony or lashed out with lightning power. And as you say, Mitchell Butel inhabited his role with such completeness and such elegant ease that every moment with him was appreciated. I could say more about the performances but I would mostly be elaborating on qualities that you Kevin have already listed.I have to say a few words however for Marcus Graham: sure, this was a very different Roy Cohn from ones I have seen in other productions, but the impression here of the man's ruthlessness, of him as a user, of his refusal to empathize was created with quite ferocious, memorable energy. Images of him abusing the life out of others burn bright in my memory - along with the yearning face and smothered anguish of Mr Zukerman; the cat-like mien of Ms Nevin's Ethel, and the warm reflectiveness of her oration as the rabbi; the tenderness of Miss Arundell as the nurse, quickly mutating into the demonic fire of the descending angel; and of course the calm in the face of Luke Mullins' Prior, a calm after so much storm, as he takes his final leave of us and readies himself for the next battle that life may throw in his path.<br /> A 'mess'? <br /> Perhaps it doesn't matter that not every idea steams cleanly into port. One is grateful - even more so in PERESTROIKA than in MILLENIUM APPROACHES - for the undeniable breadth of a great journey.johnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post-23353750214524802662013-07-07T22:03:51.944+10:002013-07-07T22:03:51.944+10:00Informative and provocative as always. Thanks Kevi...Informative and provocative as always. Thanks Kevin. I did the double bill and had a great night. This play has such ambitious imaginative invention I flew!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post-8839929225151086902013-07-01T07:29:11.345+10:002013-07-01T07:29:11.345+10:00I went to Angels with my partner, who had never se...I went to Angels with my partner, who had never seen or read the play before, and only knew it was a long play, that it was set in the 80s, and it was about AIDS.<br /><br />What was intriguing was his assumptions - he was expecting it to be sad, and he was expecting death. <br /><br />And of course, the funadamental thing about Angels (or one of the fundamental things, this is a long play with lots of fundamentals) is that it's a play about More Life - about the idea that, for all the terrors that may be thrown at us - we can survive this plague and these things, and we will live on and triumph. The only person left behind is Roy, yesterday's bitter, angry man whose time is done. <br /><br />I do disagree with your comments about the arrival of the angel. I think in the moment, with sound, lighting, smoke and stage effects working full bore (the sound of the angel wings, in particular, is wonderful), works like gang busters. Ten seconds later, when full lights go on for the curtain call and you can see the ladder and all the apperatus, it doesn't. But the curtain call is not the play.That Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04142533016588637476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7200658218238769688.post-90571317481582136052013-07-01T00:18:03.831+10:002013-07-01T00:18:03.831+10:00You may have just convinced me to watch these play...You may have just convinced me to watch these plays. Shame it's so expensive.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com