How Plays Work: Angels in America by Tony Kushner

[@jlee4039]

I read Millennium Approaches in one sitting (or one standing, actually) in a bookstore in the late 90s. I was in high school and had no money, and the bookstore owner let me read the whole play that afternoon, watched me wipe away my tears and shuffle out sheepishly afterwards, without saying a word. I miss bookstores.

[@SweetieCartoons]

Beautiful anecdote. What a play.

[@jonathanthalberg7179]

One more thing …. YOU ARE BRILLIANT! You truly studied this work and you so get it!

[@jonathanthalberg7179]

You said TK was masterful! Yes … and … your insights are masterful and insightful … thank you for these comments about one of my favorites of all times! Well stated!

[@Shae29]

I’ve been in love with play for a little over a year now, specifically the National’s revival of it❤❤ beautiful video! 💞

[@kpire6066]

Grand job. I've seen the 2 part play and film as well. I enjoyed your insights and would have been happy to hear you go deeper into the themes and your insights.

[@zygoncommander1239]

Lovely and thoughtful review of one of my favorite plays!

[@kierankaleidoscope]

Loved this video, and love Epic Theatre. Keep on making these videos Tom, I feel like I'm learning a lot that I wouldn't have known otherwise!

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Thanks so much Kieran, I really appreciate you saying so! Let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like to see me do a video about!

[@kierankaleidoscope]

Tom Nicholas just more of the same really! Really enjoying the direction of the channel. Maybe some more PhD stuff? Starting one myself in September and I find PhD related stuff interesting to watch at the moment! But mostly I'm really loving hearing about all sorts of plays I would definitely love that I just didn't know existed!

[@Tom_Nicholas]

That's really useful to know, cheers Kieran. Have been writing a new chapter of my thesis these past couple of weeks and have had a few ideas. Really interested in opening lines of essays/chapters at the moment and how to make best use of them to grab the reader's attention! Exciting to hear you're doing a PhD. Well done, the application processes are tough!

[@gregghanson6095]

Enjoyed your discussion. "Angels' has been a center for me as a gay America since the first time I saw it. I think it's important to note that according to Kushner interviews, the Angle was a hallucination for Prior more than some sort of realism as was Ethel Rosenberg for Roy Cohn. I wonder how many Brits have seen the HBO series . The cast is really beyond wonderful. Kucher also did the screen play adaptation for it...six hour long segments.

[@Tom_Nicholas]

I haven't watched this back for a while so I may be wrong but I think I talk about the angel etc as "magical realism" which, as you say, tends to be stuff like hallucinations and similar. It's the invitation of supernatural or surreal elements into an otherwise grounded fictional world. I love that interplay between the very real and completely supernatural in these plays. I've seen the HBO series! I don't think it's quite as good as the recent stage version (which is just incredible) but did really enjoy it. Such a stellar cast. Something I really like about the stage version is the length of it. It's probably a turn off for some and I usually hate really long stuff but I loved the way it made me sit down and absorbed me in its world for two evenings.

[@gregghanson6095]

@@Tom_Nicholas yes, I think we'er basically saying the same thing..and I think Belize is the link between the two worlds. I understand your sense of seeing it live. I know of no other theatre piece that absorbs me more. As to the HBO series, I cannot imagine a better Roy Cohn than Al Pacino. His telephone scene is astounding as is his relationship with Belize. My opinions for what they're worth. In any event, it's nice chatting about it. I think it should be required reading/seeing for every human on the planet! lol.

[@alaspooryorick9946]

The opening of part two is so bloody good. Comrade Antediluvianovich: "And what have you to offer now, children of this Theory? What have you to offer in its place? Market incentives? American cheeseburgers? Watered down Bukharinite stopgap capitalism! NEPmen! Pygmy children of a gigantic race!"

[@laurelf3424]

Such a great and insightful video! Thank you so much!

[@emilymcphee2960]

So happy I've found your channel 💜

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Hope you’ve been enjoying the videos!

[@stevenbosch429]

Small correction: Roy Marcus Cohn was counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy's Committe on Government Operations. He was a hustler and was around the Reagans. In the play, Cohn vents his illusion that the Reagans accepted him but I believe it would be more accurate to say that they accepted him as a hustler, influence peddler, and general weasel.

[@kellyalves756]

Steven Bosch He was a pretty creepy guy.

[@gregghanson6095]

Steven, your idea certainly coincides with acceptance in general in the Reason administration. Sinners and saints were equally welcomed.

[@BrandoCliftDean]

Excellent analysis. You are so sweet and talented.

[@bresolin88]

I know you made this years ago but bertolt brecht, antonin artaud & alfred jarry. great to see your thougths on!

[@hanaplaysandparasols5670]

Thanks for the analysis. I am yet to see part two but I also kinda fell in love with Kushner. Still annoyed that Hampstead cancelled my performance of iHo like 8 months ago :-D

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Part Two is quite different to Part One, it's far more surreal (as the angel at the end of Millenium Approaches suggests). There may be an Encore screening of Part Two, if so, worth catching! Argh, that's gutting, would have loved to have caught that too. I'm definitely a new Tony Kushner convert!

[@hanaplaysandparasols5670]

I actually managed to get a ticket for later this week so I will have part broadcast, part 'real' experience :-) Let's read more Kushner and have a chat haha :-)

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Plays and Parasols Oh cool! That'll be amazing. Enjoy!

[@stevenbosch429]

I agree with you that Tony Kushner is probably in the running to be our greatest living American playwright. Certainly the play holds up even after decades. I disagree totally with Kushner's concept of God withdrawing from his creation. A Catholic response (which happens to be my faith tradition) advances the idea of a God who embraces suffering to oppose and triumph over sin. While I have no argument with his political analysis. The question I ask is what kind of a society do we have that allows two such men as Roy Cohn and Donald Trump to rise to power?

[@stevenbosch429]

Thank you.

[@evalamerton9800]

Such a fantastically informative video! Thanks so much Tom! I found this highly useful as I'm writing my dissertation on Angels in America, having fell in love with it after a quick google search of America's most famous plays haha. I was wondering, did you find any sources particularly helpful in making this video? (eg. books/articles on Brecht's epic theatre?) Thanks again! Keep up the great work xo

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Ah, so glad you liked this. Brecht on Theatre which is edited and translated by John Willets is a good start as it has a whole load of Brecht's first-hand writings. Best of luck with the dissertation!

[@gregghanson6095]

Eve, I'm sure you've watched all the Kushner interviews. There are many.

[@harrissinger273]

This analysis is fucking amazing

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Cheers Harris!

[@user-oq6ol5fi2w]

it's been a couple years since you posted this, but have you read/seen The Illusion, also by Kushner? It and Angels are definitely my favorites of his

[@ssian5678]

Louis Ironson, Marxist? Hmmmm. Them's fightin' words...

[@Tom_Nicholas]

It's been a very long time since I watched this video back so I've no idea in what context I said that but I'd broadly stand by that from memory. He's certainly the play's voice of the left at the very least.

[@construct3]

@@Tom_Nicholas Yes, you're right. Louis is clearly Marxist. I had not thought about the play is Brechtian terms. I've just finished re-reading Gilles' Deleuze's Cinemas 1 and 2. In re-watching the HBO adaptation of Part 1: Millennium Approaches, I was taken by Mike Nichols's use of techniques Deleuze analyzes in Cinema 2: The Time-Image. I have no idea whether Nichols was familiar with Deleuze's work, but I think the movie serves as a good illustration of several of Deleuze's concepts. That is not at all to say that I disagree with your approaching the play in Brechtian and magical realist terms. In fact, they add a new dimension for my appreciating the play. In fact, I have seen live performances of both parts. Brecht certainly provides good tools for approaching the play on stage. I don't see that so much for the film adaptation. Thanks for your delightful and thought-provoking video.