Overview
It was a gamble but luckily for artistic director Shane Bosher and his Silo Theatre cast it's one that's paid off. The first instalment of the two-part play Angels in America more than delivers.
US playwright Tony Kushner tackles homophobia in 1980s America during the onset of AIDS. Subtitled A Gay Fantasia on National Themes it isn't autobiographical as such but Kushner knows what it is to be in the closet. Like the character Joe Pitt he suppressed his homosexual desires growing up.
Joe, Matt Minto, is mormon and married to Harper, Chelsie Preston Crayford. She knows Joe doesn't really love her so pops valium all day to combat her anxiety and depression. Hallucinations provide momentary relief but her anguish is heartbreaking to watch.
Joe's associate Roy Cohn, Stephen Lovatt, has AIDS but says it's liver cancer to avoid people suspecting he's gay. Sure he sleeps with men but he's adamant he's no homosexual. A real life prominent lawyer Cohn equates being gay with weakness, something he has no time for.
Openly gay man Prior Walter, Gareth Reeves, doesn't have it any easier. He tells his boyfriend Louis, Dan Musgrove, that he has AIDS and it's not long before Louis does the unspeakable and leaves him. It goes to show how well Musgrove plays the role that I can't help sympathising with him. He feels bad but seems powerless to stop his selfish behaviour.
The anger and pathos expressed by these characters is wickedly balanced by Jarod Rawiri as the cynical drag queen Belize, as well as his hilarious Mr Lies incarnation. There's also a lot of parody to the spiritual side of the play and the scene in which Prior meets two of his dead ancestors is a real crack up. Rachael Walker's minimalist set allows for flow between scenes and cleverly used trap doors surprise and delight.
This is Shane Bosher's swan song and what a way to end a directorship. Angels in America: Part 1 Millennium Approaches is a thrilling, poignant, funny and brilliantly-acted spectacle.
*Photo credit: Andrew Malmo