More Life!

Hannah Pitt/Ethel Rosenberg - Susan Brown Hannah ends up being the character we all wish we could grow up into. But there’s a complex and fascinating character under the Mormon-Mother bluster and the sensible non-nonsense approach to life. Susan Brown’s Hannah is a sensitive and incredibly human portrayal of that woman. Brown firstly takes on a variety of roles including opening both parts of the play as the Rabbi and the Bolshevik, and later as Roy’s Doctor Henry. It is a clever framing device of Kushner’s to place all the powerful men (bar Roy) as a woman (another, Joseph Heller is played by Gough- relevant because of the scene’s influence on Joe’s life). As both the Rabbi and the Bolshevik Brown gets the kind of sweeping religious and political proclamations usually reserved for the speeches of men. More than that however, to take from Kushner’s comments on the matter himself, there is a sense of fun to it. With the Bolshevik opening the sprawling Perestro...

Honestly I've been using this as a bit of a writing excercie to get myself out of a rut. But some people asked for takes on the actors/their choices with the characters so here are some notes....(more to follow) Denise Gough- Harper There is a part of me that believe Denise Gough just sort of arrives fully formed at perfection in her acting roles. And while I know that can't be true I kind of want it to be true. Her Harper, a bit like McArdle's Louis is everything I didn't know she was but needed her to be. Gough's Harper is tough, and she's sharp around the edges, which makes her more vulnerable when she needs to be. Her Harper is a 'fighty' one.  It's easy to play Harper as slightly broken and a bit demure. But a Harper with some bite (and not just in pulling down trees) is even more tragic in the first part, and even more hopeful in the second. If your Harper is going down, being beaten by her addiction, her Husband's secret lif...

The final talk, given after hearing a talk from Jonathan Bell on the history of healtcare in the USA, and extracts performed by actors, was a concluding talk that discussed both the 'Gay Fantasia on National Themes' and the approach to the AIDS epidemic the plays take.  Gay life Despite being a broader story than simply a ‘gay play’ Angels obviously places Gay life and experience at the centre of it’s narrative. The backdrop for the play had been that of sexual liberation of the 1970s, following The Stonewall Riots in 1969 had kick-started the Gay Rights Movement.  When on 28 th June 1969, the night Judy Garland died, a group of Gay customers- led by Drag Queens- grew frustrated at Police harassment and fought back, they sparked a riot, which sparked copy-cat standing up and standing off with the authorities. A year later the first Gay Pride March in New York took place on the anniversary. Forming into cohesive, agenda driven community and activism grou...

I'll be honest, I'm writing this as a way to write myself out of a rut only a day in. Densie Gough- Harper There is a part of me that believe Denise Gough just sort of arrives fully formed at perfection in her acting roles. And while I know that can't actually be true I kind of want it to be true. Her Harper, a bit like McArdle's Louis is everything I didn't know she was but needed her to be. Gough's Harper is tough, and she's sharp around the edges, which actually makes her more vulnerable when she needs to be. Her Harper is a 'fighty' one.  It's easy to play Harper as slightly broken and a bit demure. But a Harper with some bite (and not just in pulling down trees) is even more tragic in the first part, and even more hopeful in the second. If your Harper is going down, being beaten by her addiction, her Husband's secret life, her past, her lack of child-it's easy to just play the despair, but Gough plays Harper as someone being ...

So it's official that the Angels are flying back to America. Admittedly it was a fairly well known 'secret' and admittedly I knew some weeks ago. On one hand that's what made it easier for me to say 'I'm fine really' once Angels closed- knowing it wasn't a real 'goodbye' just 'farewell'. Why then am I so emotional about this today? Well firstly, in all honesty it's been a hard week. It's the first week I've been both jobless and Angels-less. And it all finally caught up with me. So what does it mean really to fly home to Broadway? well for me the NT revival was always the big one. That was 'home' for 'my' Angels. I've always been pretty nerdy about the fact the technical world premiere of the whole thing was there. But now, for a British director and (largely) British cast to take that most American of plays back home. That takes some chutzpah- in a really good way. Because America has done pr...

The previous post contains the introductory material from the day. During that portion of the day we had talks from Matthew Hodson (Executive Director of  NAM  ) and Activist Jonathan Blake who talks about HIV 'Then and Now' and their personal experiences. Following this the National Theatre Archivist brought in the records from the original production of Angels and explained how and why the National Theatre archives material. More information on the archive (Which is open to the public to access records by appointment) can be found  here . For the afternoon session we were joined by Professor Jonathan Bell  of UCL who delivered a talk on the history of healthcare in the USA, with particular reference to the AIDS epidemic. And members of the NT acting company delivered extracts from the play and answered questions on working on the text from an actor's point of view.  My own talks centred on Philosophy in Kushner's work, History, Gay Life and the r...