America’s angels return
JANE HILL REMEMBERS GROUNDBREAKING ANGELS
JANE HILL
PHOTO JEFF OVERS/BBC, ILLUSTRATION FERNANDO SAFONT
“How many of us know people caught in similar situations today?”
In early 1992 I’d been living in London for three years, and was already a big theatregoer. One of the most talked about plays of that time was Angels In America, which arrived here with great fanfare from the US.
Written by Tony Kushner, it had been staged on both the east and west coasts the year before, picking up awards and much attention on its way here. It was often referred to simply, and lazily, as the play about Aids. It was, and is, about more than that, but given the political and social backdrop of the time, it’s easy to see why that was the case.