Theatricality and catharsis in AIDS drama
by
Eric Cornelis Kortenschijl
dr. H.H. (Henk) Dragstra and drs. D. (Dirk) Visser 21 September 2009
Doctoraalscriptie opleiding Engelse Taal- en Cultuur,
Faculteit der Letteren, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
I am reminded of the worst of it each day;
as if at Hiroshima, I see about me freshly blasted kage the palest apparitions of former lovers, friends, and desires.
The worst of it is that it poisons not through enemies but through friends
The worst of it is that there is no catastrophic moment, no zero hour flash,
but that it lingers, lies, and insinuates itself worse than the subtlest homophobia.
The worst of it is that I may not have seen the worst of it that today's horror may be to tomorrow's
as a candle is to the sun, and the sun to a supernova.
But... I have survived the worst of it before...
the raids, entrapment, and pissy paddy wagons
the bashings, prison rapes, and background checks turned expose.
Each solar flare of hatred and fear
I have survived, then sifted the ashes - a prospector No fire has destroyed my best and most malleable stuff each time I have risen a purer gold iridescing lavender.
So, if the worst of it is a supernova, I will remember:
stars burst in death dark new worlds begin I have risen before; I will rise again...
After the worst of it... I will rise again.
(from Craig Reynolds - The Worst Of It (1985))
CONTENTS
Introduction 4
Gay men, AIDS and the theatre 4
Aristotle's Poetics: plot, pity, fear and catharsis 5
Common elements of AIDS drama 8
Aim of this dissertation 11
As Is: purgation through humour 13
Introduction to play, context and author 13
Unique elements of the play: the "other" and humour 16
Camp, romance and death in As Is 18
Pity, fear, catharsis, and the effect of As Is 21
The Normal Heart: AIDS as problem play 22
Introduction to play, context and author 22
Rhetoric and death: Ned as a dislikeable character 25
Romance and real life: Ned's opinions validated 27
Pity, fear, catharsis and the effect of The Normal Heart 28
Angels in America: a renewed future 30
Introduction to play, context and author 30
Unique elements of the play: Brechtian angels 33 Camp, romance and death: Angels in America as tragic comedy 35 Pity, fear, catharsis and the effect of Angels in America 37
Conclusion 39
Works Cited 42
INTRODUCTION
GAY MEN, AIDS AND THE THEATRE
In the late 1970s, the United States saw the first cases of what was to be called the 'gay cancer', GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency) and finally Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS (Shilts 37). Gay men in mostly New York and San Francisco, the two gay capitals of the United States, were suddenly dying from previously innocent infections.
By 1985, over 12,000 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS, and half of them had died (Shilts 580). AIDS spread rapidly through the gay population. This was partly due to the effects of the gay sexual liberation of the 1970s. Furthermore, the mean incubation period of HIV is 5.5 years (Shilts 552). This means that AIDS had already spread through the populace before the first cases appeared. Lastly, Randy Shilts argues that "[AIDS] was allowed to happen by an array of institutions," all of which responded too late and with too little force (xxii). Despite its rapid spread, AIDS did not take people suddenly. Instead, it killed slowly.
One patient described it as such to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: "It's almost like a slow form of torture. Sometimes it's like a dripping faucet. … You can't turn it off, you can't control."
1The same patient observed himself in the mirror: "I was horrified. I was terrified. I looked like somebody from a concentration camp, like those piles of bodies you see".
In the first half of the 1980s, AIDS was mostly ignored by mainstream publications.
Acknowledgement by the media took the diagnosis of a major Hollywood celebrity: Rock Hudson. This was in October 1985, over five years after AIDS was first discovered (Shilts 581). AIDS was, however, still a death sentence. This changed in 1987, when the first trials with the antiretroviral drug azidothymidine (AZT) were completed (Fischl et al. 185).
Currently, the life expectancy of an HIV-positive person is 24.2 years from the moment of starting treatment (Schackman et al. 990). However, AIDS has claimed the lives of many.
1"Living and Dying with AIDS." Sunday Morning. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. April 19, 1987. <http://archives.cbc.ca/health/disease/clips/2382/>
The American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that over 300,000 MSM (Men who have sex with men) have died of AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic.
2As with any disastrous or otherwise emotionally invasive event, the AIDS epidemic sparked off a large number of works of art (Goldstein 295). Many of these responses took the form of plays. Indeed, the theatre has traditionally been associated with homosexual men. In Out on Stage, Alan Sinfield explores this connection, tracing it as far back as 1601 (6). In Ben Jonson's play Poetaster from that year, a father is worried his son with playwright- aspirations will become an "engle for players", 'engle' meaning the boy in a pederastic relationship. The theatre space would remain a domain for homosexuals. In 1966, Time magazine featured the article "The Homosexual in America", writing that: "it would be difficult to find a production without homosexuals playing important parts, either on-stage or off" (Guenter 140). Apart from gayness on-stage, the early twentieth-century theatre also functioned as a meeting place for homosexuals (Sinfield 10). Thus, gay men and the theatre have a long-standing relationship. The suitability of drama as a reponse to the AIDS epidemic, however, goes beyond this connection. In this, Aristotelian tragedy and its ideas of pity, fear and catharsis play a large role.
ARISTOTLE'S POETICS: PLOT, PITY, FEAR AND CATHARSIS
In his Poetics
3, Aristotle explores the nature of tragedy. He defines it as "a mimesis of an action" (Whalley 67). George Whalley has chosen to transliterate the Greek work mimēsis, normally translated with 'imitation', in order to emphasise that it is a process, not the end product of a finished work (44-46). This implies that tragedy itself is a process. The philosopher adds later that "tragedy is a mimesis not of men [simply] but of actions — that is,
2The full report can be found at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases of HIV infection and AIDS in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2005. June 2007. Accessed 19 July 2009.
<http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/reports/2005report/default.htm>
3There are many translations of this work. The one used here is by Whalley, George and was edited by Baxter, John and Patrick Atherton. McGill-Queen's UP: Montreal: 1997. Emendations in square brackets were added by Whalley.
of life" (73). Furthermore, Aristotle assigns a few more criteria to tragedy: it must be
"[morally] serious and purposeful", have magnitude, make use of "heightened language", use both dialogue and song apart from one another, and must be acted instead of narrated (67-69).
Tragedy, then, must deal with the important and the serious. A little later, Aristotle defines six aspects of tragedy. These are, from the most important to the least important: plot, characters, thought, speech, music-making and spectacle (69-71). Plot, the "putting together of the events", must adhere to a number of criteria: it must have a beginning, a middle and an end (77); must not be so long that it is unclear or no longer a whole (79); and the plot must be complete, but not overcomplete (81). In addition, the forward motion of the plot must be logical, meaning that each action should have a basis in what has preceded it. Lastly, Aristotle defines peripeteia, or a sudden reversal of fortune, and recognition as important ways of making a plot tragic. The second-most important aspect of a tragedy is its characters.
Aristotle notes that these should be 'capable', i.e. fundamentally good, but not free from fault (107). It is this capability of error ('hamartia') that drives the plot forward. Hamartia allows for pathos, which is defined as "a murderous or cruel transaction" between blood-relations or enemies and is the basic premise of the plot (87; 91). Aristotle argues that the most emotional plot is one where the pathos is planned, but not carried out (105). This is because of the recognition mentioned before: the character planning the cruel act of pathos finds out the truth before carrying out the plan.
The well-made tragic plot, Aristotle argues, has a distinct emotional effect on the audience. He identifies pity and fear
4as the effects of tragedy. In the Rhetoric, Aristotle defines fear as "a pain or disturbance due to imagining some destructive or painful evil in the future" (qtd. in Nehamas 300). Furthermore, he notes that the evil must be great and must
4Whalley translates this effect with "pity and terror". However, "pity and fear" is the more common translation. See e.g. Else (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1967), as well as the articles by Nehamas and Lear quoted later in this paragraph. While the essence of both translations is the same, I use "pity and fear"
for two reasons: firstly, it is the most commonly-used term. Secondly, I wish to avoid the unwanted meaning of
"panic" that is inherent in "terror".
seem to be imminent. Pity is defined as "a feeling of pain at an apparent evil, destructive or painful, which befalls one who does not deserve it, and which we might expect to befall ourselves or some friend of ours, and moreover to befall us soon" (qtd. in Nehamas 300).
There are, then, a number of elements to pity and fear: the 'evil' or pathos must be great, must be perceived as happening soon and the audience must see it as something that can happen to them. The result of pity and fear is catharsis. According to Aristotle, catharsis is brought about "through [a process of] pity and fear in the events enacted" and is "the purification of those destructive or painful acts" (Whalley 69). The term catharsis has been interpreted in various ways, most commonly as relief from built-up emotions. (Vince catharsis) In his Politics, Aristotle describes catharsis through music:
Some persons fall in a religious frenzy, whom we see as a result of the sacred melodies – when they have used the melodies that excite the soul to mystic frenzy – restored as though they had found healing and katharsis. Those who are influenced by pity or fear, and every emotional nature, must have a like experience, and others in so far as each is susceptible to those emotions, and all receive a sort of katharsis and are relieved with pleasure (qtd. in Lear 316).
As a result of this, catharsis has been associated with therapeutic relief from "debilitating and
repressed emotion[s]" (Vince catharsis). Jonathan Lear argues against this, stating that this
would make catharsis "a cure for an emotionally pathological condition." He goes on by
arguing that the phrase "and a certain katharsis … occurs for everyone" includes "virtuous
people", who would certainly not be in a pathological condition in Aristotle's view (Lear
317). He offers an alternative: catharsis as a way of releasing emotions in a safe and
appropriate environment, namely the theatre (Lear 334). This seems acceptable, as it still
includes the idea of catharsis as a healthy purgation of emotions while avoiding the
association with emotional disorders.
AIDS was certainly something to fear in the Aristotelian sense: it fits the "destructive or painful evil" criterium and was, for the gay part of the audience, perceived as an imminent threat to oneself. During the first years of the epidemic, after all, the disease seemed to be everywhere and it seemed to strike people at random. In Rhetoric, Aristotle notes that "what we fear for ourselves excites our pity when it happens to others" (qtd. in Nehamas 301).
While Aristotle focused on the theatre, this could also be seen in life during the AIDS crisis.
Many gay men saw their friends succumb to a disease they did not deserve, inducing pity. In addition, the fear of being the next person to be diagnosed was ever-present. As representations of real life, AIDS drama was filled with pity and fear. The character with AIDS, being a sufferer of an undeserved affliction, would certainly induce pity in an audience that believed it could happen to them, too. The relationship between what happens in life and on-stage events can be clearly discerned in AIDS drama. Indeed, a number of common elements can be identified that bring gay life during the AIDS epidemic to the stage. These are: reaffirming love and romance, loss and grief, and camp.
COMMON ELEMENTS OF AIDS DRAMA
The romantic subplot in AIDS drama emphasises the importance of relationships. John Clum argues that because of the perceived causality of the AIDS epidemic and the lethal nature of the disease, the homosexual is equated not only to AIDS, but also to disease and ultimately to death. (47) These notions, which were often put forward by "our enemies", could be combatted by the formation of relationships. A heteronormative society, focusing on the nuclear family, would look more kindly upon monogamous relationships than upon the sexual liberation of the 1970s. Clum notes the "tragic irony that AIDS can validate gay relationships by showing the sacrifice and devotions of the caring partner toward his lover"
(74). In addition to validating gay relationships, leaving behind the sexually liberated past
also gives security for the future. This stability was needed in the AIDS crisis, which was
filled with insecurity. Uncertainty "breeds anxiety and fear: about the past, and for the present and future" (Weeks 17). The anxiety over the past can best be summarised with a question:
"could I have prevented this?" The uncertainty of the present stems from the responses of one's environment. The reactions from friends, family and co-workers could be a cause for concern. If one was in a relationship, the reaction from one's lover was added to that. Apart from anxiety over the past and present, the future too is highly uncertain. In the period before antiretroviral drugs, it was only a matter of time before the patient would lose his health.
When this would happen, however, was unknown. In this uncertain time, it is only natural to search for stability in the form of relationships. In addition to the importance of relationships, AIDS drama also deals with loyalty. Some relationships were serodiscordant i.e. one partner was suffered from AIDS, while the other partner did not. A fear of abandonment could run through these relationships, which can be seen in AIDS drama. In fact, Clum identifies this as one of the central questions of this type of theatre: "Will you still love me when I'm deathly ill and covered with lesions?" (74). Romance in AIDS drama, therefore, does not deal with the romantic. Instead, it seeks answers to questions about uncertainty, loyalty, health and relationships.
Death and pathos are closely connected. When Aristotle talks about pathos, he means
"a murderous or cruel transaction". In discussing the ways in which this can be expressed,
Aristotle gives examples from contemporary tragedies. These all involve a planned murder,
specifically between blood relations. Thus, death is inherent to the tragic act. It should be
noted here that the pity and fear that are a result of pathos do not necessarily have to involve
the execution of the murderous act. The threat of death is enough for the audience to feel pity
and fear. It is unsurprising that the death associated with AIDS is another common way in
which gay men's lives were portrayed on stage during the epidemic. Many gay men living
during the AIDS epidemic encountered an overload of grief and loss. Grieving for one's loved
one, however, was not always easy. Martha Fowlkes poses that, while grief is most
commonly understood to be a personal process one must go through, it also has a decidedly social function (637). The mourner can only overcome their grief if their relationship to the deceased is acknowledged as socially acceptable. A stigmatised relationship will lead to an incomplete mourning process. Homosexual relationships were often seen as unacceptable, making coping with the death of one's lover and expressing grief more difficult. Drama, however, did provide an outlet for these emotions. It must be noted that as the AIDS crisis progressed, the idea of death changed with it. In the first years of the epidemic, AIDS was a terminal illness: death was a certainty. As more information became available and antiretroviral drugs were invented, however, it became possible to live with AIDS. Thus, AIDS plays of the late 1980s and after view the disease with a more positive eye, albeit a cautious one. AIDS was still a horrible disease, but it was no longer a death sentence.
A defining feature of the gay community
5is the use of camp. Defined as "the desire of a subject … to reach for a protective transcendence," camp "incorporat[es] the survivalist strategies of the earlier, pre-Stonewall gay model of responding to oppression, violence and discrimination with post-Stonewall outrage, irony and wit."
6Camp is indeed first and foremost a way of surviving in an oppressive world. This can be expressed through mannerisms, especially the stereotypically 'gay' ones that were often used by those wishing to negatively parody homosexuals. Examples include swishing the hips or using a high-pitched voice with a characteristic lisp. While these can of course be innate to a person's behaviour, camp enlarges these mannerisms, making them grotesque and absurd. It is the absurdity that allows for camp to be used as a means of protection against stereotyping and discrimination.
In addition, in speech, camp can be divided into four strategies: "[p]aradox, [i]nversion, [l]udicrism and [p]arody".
7In verbal paradox, two seemingly incompatible ideas or words
5This term is problematic, as there is no one gay community. It is, however, a common term to refer to the gay part of the population and I use it here as such.
6qtd. in Clum 154; Román Party 305
7Harvey, Keith. "Describing Camp Talk". Language and Literature. Vol (9)3: pp. 240-260. The article explores the nature of camp in speech in great detail, citing examples from novels and theatre in both English and French.
exist simultaneously, "suggesting the possibility of a more inclusive and complex 'truth.'"
This can, for example, be done through quick changes in register. Inversion deals with reversing the expected. Most commonly, this is associated with inverting personal pronouns (i.e. gay men referring to each other as "she"). Thirdly, camp uses ludicrism, which shows itself in, among other things, puns and double entendres. A final strategy of camp is parody, which is mostly expressed in parodying femininity. This can, for example, be done through hyperbole or over-the-top exclamations. It is important to realise that camp is always acutely aware of its artificiality, giving it a self-aware sense of irony. Camp looks at discrimination, oppression and the AIDS epidemic and manages to simultaneously mock them and treat them as the serious problems they are. In AIDS drama, camp provides another important function:
it increases identification with the characters. Since camp is practiced throughout almost the entire gay community, using this reached the gay part of the audience.
AIM OF THIS DISSERTATION
This dissertation will look at three AIDS plays: As Is, The Normal Heart and Angels in America. The authors have a few things in common: all are homosexual Jewish males from the New York area. However, the plays are extremely diverse in their treatment of the crisis.
This depends on each author's personal position vis-á-vis the AIDS epidemic. Despite their
diversity in looking at the crisis, all three plays attempt to reach the theatergoers by inducing
an emotional response. They do so by using the aforementioned elements romance, death and
camp. Each playwright, however, will have had different reason for trying to bring about
catharsis. In order to clarify this, each chapter will first give some background information
regarding the play and its context. Next, the background of the author will be explored. Using
this, I will examine and illustrate the unique themes that illustrate the playwright's stance on
the AIDS epidemic. I will also look at romance, death and camp as the three common
elements of AIDS drama. This will lead to an examination of pity, fear, catharsis and its
effect. By examining the three plays in this way, I will argue that AIDS drama was an
exceptionally suitable way of dealing with the AIDS crisis and the emotions associated with
it.
AS IS: PURGATION THROUGH HUMOUR
INTRODUCTION TO PLAY, CONTEXT AND AUTHOR
As Is, written by William M. Hoffman, opened off-Broadway on March 10, 1985. It was originally performed by New York's Circle Repertory Company and directed by Marshall W.
Mason. After a brief but successful run, the play was moved to Broadway on May 1 1985, where it ran for 285 performances. In addition, it has been put on stage in twelve more countries all over the world, including Germany, Australia, Japan and Canada
8(Klett 14). In 1986, it was turned into a made-for-TV film, starring Robert Caradine and Jonathan Hadary, who reprised his stage role of Saul. The play text of As Is has been published in anthologies and in separate volumes multiple times.
9As Is has won a Drama Desk Award for Best Play (1985), an Obie Award for Distinguished Playwriting (1985) and has received a Tony Nomination for Best Play (1985) (Hoffman Lehman). Further critical reception, in the form of reviews, has been overwhelmingly positive. In Time Magazine, William A. Henry III said that "Hoffman laughs at the self-delusion and hypocrisy of [promiscuity]", also noting the
"rich, lyric dialogue for the leads". A day after its off-Broadway opening, New York Times critic Frank Rich asserted in a glowing review that "the playwright reaches out to examine the impact of AIDS on hetero- and homosexual consciences" and that he does so "with both charity and humor."
10His only criticism of was that "the characters of "As Is" seem a bit too saintly." But this, according to Rich, is repaired by the remarkable directing efforts.
As Is is a play without scene cuts or a scheduled intermission. It is introduced by Sister Veronica, an ex-nun who now works at a hospice, in a direct address to the audience. The play proper, however, opens with the two main characters, Saul and Rich, dividing their
8Klett, Renate. "Humor Hilft Sterben - Und Besser Leben." Theater Heute. vol. 26 (1985), no. 12, pp.
14-16. Translations are mine, but the original text is given in footnotes.
9Random House (Vintage Press), 1985; Dramatists Play Service, 1985; in Out Front, Grove, 1988; and in The Way We Live Now, TCG, 1990.
10This article can be read at http://www.aegis.com/news/nyt/1985/NYT850306.html.
posessions after a breakup. After a while, Rich comes out with the truth with a simple "I have it"
11(12). Immediately, the left side of the stage is revealed and the audience hears the response from Rich's family and friends: Rich's work partner starts talking about his own battle against cancer, thereby giving his opinion on AIDS as a disease that can be overcome;
Rich's brother ends all contact; Chet becomes paranoid ("I'll use the red soap dish and you'll use the blue" (14).) and ultimately leaves Rich. The only one who supports Rich unconditionally ('as is') is Saul, who immediately says "you'll stay with me till you feel better" (16). Rich accepts the offer, but cannot stay away from the bar scene. Here, he tries to pick up men, being varyingly honest about his condition, but always failing totally in his efforts. The rest of the play weaves the story of Rich and Saul through visits to times past.
They rekindle their relationship by reminiscing about the sexual revolution of the 1970s, scenes describing the heterosexual response to AIDS, Rich's first meeting with Chet, a support group for people with AIDS and an informational hotline. Eventually, Rich ends up in the hospital. Here, after much badgering from Rich, Saul decides to help his partner commit suicide. For this, he buys the anaesthetic Seconal, enough for both Rich and himself.
However, before he can deliver them to Rich, Saul decides he does not "have the right to take your life or mine" (58). The play ends with the two men consummating their relationship behind a closed curtain and with Sister Veronica admitting: "I'm angry at God: how can He do this?" (61). Her last words, however, tell of a man who "weighs all of ninety pounds and [is] half dead," who most of all misses his corset and high heels, ending the play in a wry smile (61).
William M. Hoffman was born in New York in 1939. He received a classical education and majored in Latin in college (Klett 14). He saw for himself a future as an academic, but his love for writing remained. He started writing plays in his twenties and during his college
11All play quotations from Hoffman, William F. "As Is". The Way We Live Now: American Plays and the AIDS Crisis. Ed. Osborn, Elisabeth M. Theatre Communications: New York, 1990. Since the play is not divided into scenes or acts, page numbers are given after each quotation.
years he wrote musicals, lyrics and plays (Klett 14). In addition, he belonged to Caffé Cino, a small cafe-theatre that has been dubbed the birthplace of the off-off-Broadway scene and one of the foster fathers of gay theatre (Stone 1). As Is was Hoffman's first success. When asked about his influences, he names the past: "History has always fascinated me. … I see myself as a traditional author, even though my plays do not seem traditional. I use the old to create something new; I build on the past because I love and respect it"
12(Klett 14). Hoffman saw in the AIDS epidemic a repetition of history, with death as a common theme: "My friends died of AIDS - about ten people I knew died of AIDS. At the same time my dad and my uncle died of other illnesses. Even my cats died. Suddenly I was surrounded by death. I come from a Jewish family, and many of my relatives were murdered in Poland and Russia"
13(Klett 14).
Hoffman explains that the comparison with the Holocaust exists only "in [his] own psyche"
14. Apart from the loss of his friends, Hoffman sees a second comparison between AIDS and the Holocaust: "it is thought that dying of AIDS is one's own fault. This links a wild life and the appropriate punishment. You are a piece of shit and because of that, you deserve to die. In that I see a parallel with the prosecution of Jews"
15(Klett 15).
In addition to seeing a link with the Holocaust, Hoffman also acknowledges the importance of the idea of the "other", meaning anyone but oneself or someone who is part of one's own group (by colour, sexuality, religion or any other defining characteristic). He says:
"Even homosexuals try to distance themselves by saying "oh, he has AIDS; well, he was always so promiscuous." Straight people say "I am normal", IV drug users say "I am not
12"[I]ch war immer von Geschichte fasziniert. … Ich selbst begreife mich als traditionellen
Schriftsteller, obwohl meine Stücke nicht traditionell aussehen. Ich benutze das Alte, um etwas Neues daraus zu machen, ich baure auf der Vergangenheit auf, weil ich die Vergangenheit liebe und respektiere."
13"Freunde von mit starben an Aids – insgesamt sind etwa zehn Menschen, die ich kannte, an Aids gestorben. Zu dieser Zeit starben auch mein Vater und mein Onkel an anderen Krankheiten, sogar meine Katzen starben. Ich wat plötzlich überall vom Tod umgeben. Ich komme aus einer jüdischen Familie, und viele meiner Angehörigen wurden in Polen und Rußland ermordet."
14"er bezieht sich nur auf meine eigene Psyche."
15"Der andere Aspekt des vergleichs besteht darin, daß jemand, der an Aids stirbt, irgenwie selbst schuld daran zu sein scheint. Da wird eine Verbindung hergestellet zwischen einem wüsten Lebenswandel und der Strafe dafür. Du bist ein Stück Dreck und deshalb verdienst du zu sterben. Da sehe ich schon eine Parallele zu der Art, wie die Juden behandelt wurden."
gay", Haitians say "I do not shoot up", etc"
16(Klett 15). He notes that blaming an "other" is a human trait. However, he says: "we need solidarity, not distancing"
17(Klett 15). Hoffman's plays are meant to reach a wider audience, not just the expected target audience. He feels he only succeeds when he moves people who are foreign to him. Lastly, Hoffman notes the importance of humour: "of the people I know who are involved with AIDS, the ones who cope the best are those who retain their sense of humour"
18(Klett 15). His father and uncle, too, used jokes to "keep their sanity". For Hoffman, As Is had a therapeutic function. At the time of writing, the constant death around him made him depressed. Humour, for him, was a coping mechanism and this shows in the play. Not only for the playwright himself did humour have its uses; the audience, too, could use a laugh: "I definitely did not mean to depress the audience. That does not do anyone any good"
19(Klett 15).
UNIQUE ELEMENTS OF THE PLAY: THE "OTHER" AND HUMOUR
Since AIDS was seen as a 'gay disease', it is only natural that the "other" in AIDS drama is either the heterosexual or the homosexual, depending on one's viewpoint. Some AIDS dramas look at AIDS from a heterosexual perspective. One example is the 1985 made-for-TV film An Early Frost, where the heterosexual nuclear family is shaken by the coming home of AIDS patient and family member Michael, but is eventually reaffirmed in its ways (Treichler 177). While Hoffman's play is gay-centred, here too the heterosexual other is given a voice.
This can be seen in a number of instances throughout the play. The opening and closing of the play by the (presumably) heterosexual Sister Veronica bookends the play with an "other".
During the play, however, there are two main moments where the heterosexual characters
16"Sogar die schwulen versuchen, sich abzugrenzen. Oh, der hat Aids, aber der war ja auch immer so promiskuitiv. Die Heteros grenzen sich ab und sagen: ich bin ja normal und ich fixe nicht, und die Fixer sagen:
ich bin ja nicht schwul, und die Haitaner sagen: ich fixe nicht usw."
17"was wir brauchen, ist Solidarität, nicht abgrenzung."
18"Von den Leuten, die ich kenne, die mit Aids zu tun haben, kommen diejenigen am besten zurecht, die sich ihren Sinn für Humor bewahren."
19"[I]ch hätte ganz sicher nicht vor, das Publikum in Verzweiflun und Depression zu stürzen, denn das hätte niemandem genutzt."
speak up about their experiences with AIDS. When Rich reveals he has AIDS, his brother, partner in business, his friend Lily and later two doctors immediately give their reaction, in addition to homosexuals Chet and Saul. This scene is frantic and lines overlap quite often.
The responses are varied, but none address Rich's illness directly. It is either conveniently ignored, looked at medically or discussed in the context of social relations. The frantic babbling stops when Rich approaches Chet. All characters except for Saul recoil in shock:
"Don't touch me!" (15). This sudden coming together of the characters emphasises the fact that, despite the differences in response, AIDS is seen as something that should be far away from one's own life and should only affect the "other". That this is impossible and that AIDS is close to everyone can be seen later in the play. A small group of people, whose the sexualities are not revealed, discuss the first time they heard about AIDS (27-29). This scene, too, has two or more characters say the same line at the same time. Once again, this emphasises a common response: confusion, fear and perhaps surprisingly, admiration. This scene ends with the five speaking characters reciting a list of names, which incidentally mirrors a list of names printed before the playtext. Even though the characters are themselves HIV-negative, their lives have been touched by AIDS.
The use of humour as a way of coping with hardship is well-established. It is described as "a means of cognitively managing many of the events and situations that threaten [our]
wellbeing" (Martin 19). Indeed, almost any disastrous event has jokes associated with it. This
coping mechanism can be seen in As Is, as early as in Sister Veronica's introduction: "A
quick joke: Did you hear about the man who lost his left side? … He's all right now. (…) We
tell a lot of jokes in my line of work" (7). At various other points in the play, jokes are told,
all of which are connected to sexuality or AIDS. In this, Hoffman has not eschewed the
cruder side of comedy: "What's the worst thing about getting AIDS? … Trying to convince
your parents that you're Haitian" (52). Apart from the literal re-telling of jokes, As Is also
contains many humorous situations. One example comes early in the play, as Rich tries to
pick up a man in a bar: "I once picked up a guy who liked to be yelled at in German. The only German I know is the "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth. (Yelling like an enraged Nazi)
"O Freude, schöner Gotterfunken, Schweinehund, Tochter aus Elysium, Dummkopf!" (16).
Later, at an AIDS-information hotline not unlike that of GMHC, one character reveals what he would do it he were to fall ill: "I'd shove a time bomb up my tush and drop in on Timmy for tea and meet his new lover: Jimmy. … "Timmy has told me so much about you. I've been dying to meet you." And kaboom! There goes Timmy and Jimmy" (43). The humour in these cases lies of course in the audience's imagining of the scene. One reviewer said that Hoffman's use of humour "expresses a tightlipped ironic love of life, a determination not to surrender joy even in the face of ghastly suffering" (Berman 570). Every joke or humorous situation is one part self-deprecation and two parts poking fun at the frightening and taboo topic at hand: AIDS.
CAMP, ROMANCE AND DEATH IN AS IS
Whereas humour, mentioned above, is a more general entity, camp appeals mostly to the gay community. More than humour, camp plays with notions of gender and sexuality. This comes back a few times in As Is. At one point, Saul and Rich, in their reminiscing about the sexuality of the past, "play their favorite [pornographic] bookstore habitués":
RICH (A tough New York queen): Hey, Mary, the line forms at the rear.
SAUL [(A black queen)]: And whose rear might that be, sugar? (24)
In addition to sexualising the word 'rear', the use of 'Mary' and 'sugar' to address a gay man is one of the most common forms of camp. Later in the play, camp appears a few times during a support meeting for people with AIDS. When Rich says he has lost weight due to the illness, one PWA responds: "(Like a TV commercial): Ladies, see those ugly pounds just melt away."
(38) Once again, there is a female address form to a group consisting of mostly men. The
parody of a television advertisement, too, fits in the ludicrism of camp. Note that the
undertone of the comment is deadly serious: AIDS could cause one to lose dangerous amounts of weight. The camp in As Is focuses mostly on the characters taking up a role for a moment, as well as on short incongruities of high and low register. It is not as prevalent as in, for example, Angels in America. However, it does play an important role. It allows the gay audience to momentarily laugh at the frightening. In this, it serves the same purpose as the humour described above and should be seen as a complement to the more general comedy.
Despite humour playing a large role in As Is, a sense of insecurity and fright runs through the play. Saul admits he is afraid of what he might find: "Every morning I examine my body for swellings, marks. I'm terrified of every pimple, every rash, even though I've tested negative" (12). Rich, who already has AIDS, is more uncertain about the present: "My lover leaves me; my family won't let me near them; I lose my business; I can't pay my rent"
(17). The romantic subplot between these men starts at the end, it seems: the two main characters are in the final stages of breaking up. However, when Rich reveals he has AIDS, Saul is the one who stays by him, albeit as a friend (14). The reality of the epidemic causes the two men to become nostalgic for the past.. Rich visits the bar scene, which has been changed forever by AIDS. It now includes assertions of HIV-negativity and demands of safe sex. The seriousness of what was once fun causes nostalgia:
SAUL: God, I used to love promiscuous sex.
RICH: Not "promiscuous," Saul, nondirective, noncommitted, non- authoritarian -
SAUL: Free, wild, rampant -
RICH: Hot, sweaty, steamy, smelly - SAUL: Juicy, funky, hunky -
RICH: Sex.
SAUL: Sex. God, I miss it. (25)
The two men do find sex again, albeit not the promiscuous kind they were nostalgic for. As the play progresses, Saul and Rich become increasingly sexual with each other. From a purely platonic relationship, the two men move to play-wrestling with obvious sexual undertones (39). It is, however, in the hospital that the relationship becomes renewed:
SAUL: I'll take you as is.
RICH: But what happens when it gets worse? It's gonna get worse.
SAUL: I'll be here for you no matter what happens. (58)
Moments later, Rich admits to Saul: "I need you" (58). Towards the end of the play, the two men consummate their relationship. In this, they let go of their nostalgia and accept the present.
Like many gay men living during the AIDS epidemic, William Hoffman saw many of his friends die of AIDS. One author notes: "[Hoffman] mentions the losses matter-of-factly, facts of the sort of life we live now" (Fenwick 60). Indeed, most of As Is treats death only by listing the deceased or ill. After Saul and Rich bicker about the division of the assets, a silence falls. Saul breaks the silence: "I visited Teddy today at St. Vincent's. It's very depressing... (…) Sometimes he's having sex. You can see him having sex right in front of you. He doesn't even know you're there. (…) Jimmy died, as you must have heard. (…) Harry has KS, and Matt has trouble breathing" (11-12). Later in the play, the actors form a group of people who discuss their first acquaintance with AIDS. This scene ends with a list of names, which corresponds for the most part to a list of names printed before the playtext (6). The only time when death is imminent for the main characters is when Rich asks Saul to assist in his suicide by bringing him Seconal. The choice for this particular anaesthetic is not coincidental, as it was the way gay icon Judy Garland committed suicide.
20Despite Saul's initial refusal, he buys the pills, the transaction of which is acted out in one of the many side- scenes (55-56). This is when death is nearest: there is nothing to indicate that Rich's suicide
20Thomson, David. "Film Studies - She couldn't act for toffee, until she burst into song." The Independent. 27 June 2004.
will be averted. However, Saul explains that after buying the pills, an epiphanic moment made him realise: "I just don't have the right to take your life or mine" (58). Thus, death is averted.
PITY, FEAR, CATHARSIS AND THE EFFECT OF AS IS
As Is centres around Saul and Rich. Indeed, all the other characters are played by a small group of actors, as Hoffman prescribes in the dramatis personae (5). It is therefore the two main characters that should be considered when looking at the role of pity and fear. Rich is pitiable, as he has done nothing to deserve the destructive illness. Even though Saul does not at first seem to induce pity, there is an "evil" in his future: the death of his friend and ex- lover. Both these elements are highly recognisable for the audience. It would not have been a stretch of the imagination to think of oneself as either the patient (Rich) or the carer and eventually mourner (Saul). Furthermore, the pervasiveness of the AIDS epidemic would cause the audience to imagine themselves in either or both of these situations in the imminent future. The fear for this would be great. This is due to the fact that As Is was written and performed in a time when there were no successful antiretroviral drugs that could stop the progression of AIDS. Thus, the on-stage action reflected the real life of the audience. In this climate, Hoffman considered it important to add humour to the play. Certainly, As Is contains many jokes, humorous situations and instances of camp. This is the catharsis of the play:
Hoffman invites the audience to laugh at the AIDS epidemic, even if only in the safe
environment of the theatre.
THE NORMAL HEART: AIDS AS PROBLEM PLAY
INTRODUCTION TO PLAY, CONTEXT AND AUTHOR
In 1985, the New York Shakespeare Festival, led by Joseph Papp, saw the world premiere of a play by AIDS activist Larry Kramer: The Normal Heart. It was a big success and became the longest-running production for this theatre group (Clum 79). Productions in Los Angeles and New Haven followed (Kramer Reports 91). On March 2, 1986, the play opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Here, too, there was initial success, due to the casting of film star Martin Sheen as protagonist Ned Weeks. When the production moved to the West End Albery theatre, Sheen was replaced by Tom Hulce. The play did not fare well in its new home and production was halted soon after (De Jongh 180). The play was now, however, travelling the world. In Poland, a taped staging of Normalne Serce was broadcast on TV channel Teatr Telewizji. In the United States, Barbra Streisand acquired the filming rights to The Normal Heart. Talks broke down, however, and Streisand's ownership of the filming rights prevented Kramer from making the film himself (Kramer Reports 92). This was not the only setback for Kramer's brain child, as a 2004 revival of the play ended prematurely. Jesse McKinley of the New York Times speculated that the play failed in the new millennium because of "a difficult topic, a generally weak market for serious theater, and a lack of solid support among gay theatergoers." The Normal Heart may get another chance: in early June 2009, it became known that Streisand was once again looking to work with Kramer to produce a film version (Adnum Outrate).
Larry Kramer has been a notorious figure in the gay community for decades.
21His 1978 novel Faggots, in which Kramer protests the promiscuous lifestyle of the Fire Island gay community, earned him the reputation of "nebbishy interloper - a puritan who often
21For an excellent discussion regarding criticism on the sexual revolution and Larry Kramer's reputation in the gay community, see Kantrowitz, Arnie. "An Enemy of the People". We Must Love One Another Or Die.
Ed. Mass, Lawrence D. Palgrace MacMillan: New York, 1999. pp. 97-116.
wondered in print why gay life had to be defined by sexual promiscuity rather than by fidelity or love" (Specter Public). Playwright Robert Chesley wrote in the New York Native: "Read anything by Kramer closely. I think you'll find that the subtext is always: the wages of gay sin is death" (qtd. in Shilts 108-9). Manhattan's only gay bookstore banned Faggots and on Fire Island, Kramer became an outcast (Shilts 26). Through the novel's protagonist, Kramer calls for a change in sexual practice: "if those happy couples are there, they better come out of the woodwork fast and show themselves pronto before so we can have a few examples for unbelieving heathens like you that it's possible. Before you fuck yourself to death" (Kramer Faggots 337). The foreboding of the AIDS crisis is clear. It is this same crisis that would become the focus of Kramer's attention for decades to come. In order to reach the gay community, Kramer founded the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), "an organisation started
… by attractive, socially active, successful gay men with whom most other gay men should easily be able to relate" (Merla 38). In Kramer's view, GMHC had a unique chance to change legislation and garner a real response from the gay community. The other board members, however, saw the organisation as a social services agency without a confrontational agenda.
Kramer's message of abstinence did not resonate well with the rest of the board members and
was the cause of frequent and heated discussion at GMHC (Schilts 210). His 1983 article
1,112 and counting starts in true Larry Kramer style, with the words "if this article doesn't
scare the shit out of you, we're in real trouble. If this article doesn't rouse you to anger, fury,
rage, and action, gay men may have no future on this earth" (Kramer Reports 33). At the
request of GMHC, Kramer disassociated the article from the organisation. (Merla 40) The
foundation for the inevitable split had been laid, however. After the board of GMHC did not
invite him to a meeting with Mayor Koch, Kramer resigned. In 1987, Kramer would be the
start of ACT-UP – the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power, an "ad-hoc community group" that
would "fight for the release of experimental drugs" (Merla 50).
The Normal Heart is an extremely autobiographical play and centres around Ned Weeks, a thinly-veiled version of the author himself. Like Kramer, he is a combative and loud gay activist who sees the people around him dying of AIDS and feels that something needs to be done. In the first scene of act one, he meets Dr. Emma Brookner – a staged version of real-life Dr. Linda Laubenstein. As a medical professional, she too sees young gay men dying before their time. Her message to Ned is simple: "tell gay men to stop having sex"
22(I.1). Ned more than willingly takes up this call to arms and founds Gay Men's Health Crisis together with Tommy, Bruce and Mickey. Their visions of what this grassroots organisation should be, however, differs wildly: while the others see it as a way of helping PWAs (People With AIDS), Ned is a hardliner. "We should be riding herd on the CDC in Atlanta. … We could organise boycotts" (II.9). In the meantime, Ned tries his luck with the media. At the New York Times, he meets Felix, the paper's society reporter. While he is one of the types of gay men Weeks raves against –someone who refuses to make waves out of fear for his job–, he does become Ned's lover. Later, Felix is to be diagnosed with AIDS. A third avenue pursued by Ned, this time in conjunction with GMHC, is influencing the local political powers. Then-mayor of New York Ed Koch –whose policies regarding AIDS shone by their glowing absence– is represented by the gay mayor's assistant, Hiram Keebler. As apologist for the unresponsiveness of the political apparatus, he receives the full wrath of Ned. In the meantime, Emma is fighting the medical establishment, who are unwilling to dole out research money. As the clashes between Ned and the other men of GMHC get worse, he is voted out of the organisation. The play's final scene shows a deathbed marriage between Ned and Felix, presided over by Emma. Despite this bittersweet ending, nothing is resolved:
official response to AIDS is still minimal and the disease continues to rage largely unchecked through the gay community.
22All quotations from the play are from Kramer, Larry. The Normal Heart. Nick Hern Books: London, 1993.
RHETORIC AND DEATH: NED AS A DISLIKEABLE CHARACTER
Considering Kramer's reputation, it is not inconceivable to think that The Normal Heart is a simple rant, a purely polemical accusation towards the establishment and GMHC in not fighting the AIDS crisis the right way, spoken through the loud mouth of hero Ned Weeks.
After all, this seems to be the most likely style for an author known for his combative essays, articles and novels. However, Kramer himself remarked that he had a different intention for the play: "I was trying, somehow and again, to atone for my own behavior" (Kramer Reports 93). Kramer's opinion of Ned is all-round negative: "I tried to make Ned Weeks as obnoxious as I could. He isn't my idea of a hero. He fucks up totally. He yells at his dying lover and screams and rants and raves at and against everyone and everything else and gets tossed out of "the organization" on his ass" (Kramer Reports 93). Instead of Ned being the hero, all credit goes to the director of GMHC: "I tried to make Bruce Niles, the Paul Popham character, the sympathetic leader he in fact was" (Kramer Reports 93). However, should the reader take these words as gospel? Rodger McFarlane, one of Kramer's former lovers, remarked on the playwright's public rants: "What [people] didn't realize was that he would rehearse those outbursts for three straight hours. He would sit there and say, `I am going on
"Donahue" or the "Today" show and I am going to say the mayor is gay, because if I do that it's going to make things happen.' Nobody ever gives Larry credit for his showmanship'' (qtd.
in Specter Public). One should therefore wonder if The Normal Heart does not employ this strategy. Furthermore, The Normal Heart is a problem play, which "dramatize controversial social questions, especially those related to … sexual mores[.]" (Lacey Problem) Often, these plays are critical and contain an unconventional solution.
If Kramer wanted to atone for his sins through the play's protagonist, Ned Weeks would
have to be a highly unlikeable character in comparison to the men of GMHC. Kramer's use of
rhetoric plays a large role in this, since Ned's extensive use of this drives away the people
around him. Rhetoric was a common mode of speech during the AIDS epidemic and
expressed itself through war language, with words and phrases such as "battle lines" and
"ground zero". In his article on this phenomenon, Michael Sherry notes the widespread use of the Holocaust because of its taboo nature and associations with intentional genocide (45). In addition, he states that it was Larry Kramer who made the most use of images of the Holocaust (42). He did so for two reasons: firstly, to name society and the establishment as accomplishes in the "genocide"; secondly, to make the gay community aware of their own passivity in battling the epidemic. (42) Sherry rightly wonders if a different metaphor would have changed the way AIDS was discussed, and mentions plague-related phrases and natural disasters (44). Those using this type of rhetoric, he argues, would not have been so focused on causation and would have seen the epidemic as something inevitable. Indeed, The Normal Heart makes this distinction quite clear. Ned uses war and Holocaust language, for example:
"Did you ever consider it would get so bad they'll quarantine us or put us in camps?" (II.13).
Also, Ned assigns guilt to the gay community for the AIDS epidemic: "I am sick of guys moaning that giving up careless sex until this blows over is worse than death" (I.5). GMHC, however, employs plague language: "MICKEY. What if it's something out of the blue? The Great Plague of London was caused by polluted drinking water from a pump nobody noticed"
(II.11). The lack of causal connotations are confirmed in GMHC's first newsletter: "I just said the best medical knowledge … seems to feel that a virus has landed in our community" (I.5).
By using the passive voice, GMHC does not assign guilt for the age epidemic, whereas Ned alienates every party with his harsh rhetoric.
Within the struggle between Ned and GMHC lies the opposition between Ned and Bruce. Here, too, Ned loses out. This is partly due to the language use noted earlier, as well as Bruce's being a more stable character and his involvement in the board of GMHC.
However, the two men are really put side-by-side when it concerns losing a lover. Both men
see their partners die of AIDS near the end of the play. Even though Bruce's partner Albert
dies off-stage, the long monologue in II.11 gives the audience all the information needed to
form a clear mental image. Albert's death is, to say it bluntly, messy. He dies in an ambulance, incontinent and not recognising his lover. After his death, Albert's body is refused by all out of AIDS-phobia except for an undertaker who is willing to cremate illegally. For an audience that has seen these horrors in real life, this scene is extremely emotional. Compared with Albert's death, Felix' is almost pristine. Felix dies with full mental and nearly-full physical faculties and very few physical ailments, despite his being in a hospital bed. In addition, he dies immediately after "marrying" Ned. While this too is a highly emotional scene, it is more like a fairy-tale than real life. While a utopic vision can be comforting to watch, it is not true to life. In addition, while Ned's boyfriend does die of AIDS, his death is relatively painless and serene, which does not induce pity in the audience.
After all, the "evil" does not seem very great. Bruce, however, does deserve the audience's pity, since Albert's death played on all the audience's fears about AIDS deaths: pain, terrible illness, and discrimination. This would cause the audience to identify more with Bruce than with Ned.
ROMANCE AND REAL LIFE: NED'S OPINIONS VALIDATED
Kramer's self-described attempt to atone for his past sins does not work completely. While
Ned's harsh, incessant and mis-timed rants do not particulary endear him to anyone, the play
does favour his opinions. In Ned's (and Kramer's) view, promiscuity is one of the causes of
the epidemic proportions AIDS has reached in the gay community. The solution for this is
monogamy. The romantic subplot between Ned and Felix underscores this notion. Felix'
revealing he has AIDS does not scare off Ned. The next time the two men are on stage
together is in II.14, by which time Felix has received chemotherapy for his lesions and is
already quite ill. This is where, according to Kramer, Ned "yells at his dying lover" (Kramer
Reports 93). The reason for this is Felix' refusal to stick to his prescribed diet that will give
him "a life expectancy of ten more minutes" (II.14). The final scene of the play is the
melodramatic deathbed marriage of Ned and Felix. While this subplot seems like a standard gay romance in the time of AIDS, it serves to underscore Weeks' (and Kramer's) negative opinion on promiscuity. Clum argues that "Kramer uses the Ned-Felix relationship to show what was wrong with gay relationships in the age of liberation and how old, self-destructive behaviour patterns doom current partners" (Clum 76). By giving his main character the durable relationship he seeks, Kramer made a case against the culture of sex that surrounds the gay community.
In addition to favouring Weeks' opinion on promiscuity, the play also agrees with him on his opinion of the establishment. At various points, the medical, political and journalistic worlds are represented or spoken about on-stage, all of which are characterised by their lack of response to the AIDS epidemic. Dr. Emma Brookner confronts an examining doctor about the lack of research funding in II.12: "it is an unconscionable delay and has never, never existed in any other health emergency during this entire century." The mayor's assistant, even though he is gay, is no help either: "Of course we're aware of these figures. … And the Mayor feels there is no need to declare any kind of emergency" (II.9). In Ned's words, the political power in New York is "repressive and downright dangerous" (II.9).
Lastly, the media are equally unresponsive. At the start of the play, "the Times ran something on some inside page. Very inside page twenty" (I.1). Later, the same newspaper does write "a big story", but this news is immediately reneged by the addition that it will be by "some lady in Baltimore" (II.11). The establishment, therefore, is as unresponsive to the AIDS epidemic as Ned Weeks claims they are. Once again, his views are validated by the actual events in the play.
PITY, FEAR, CATHARSIS AND THE EFFECT OF THE NORMAL HEART
As an autobiographical problem play, The Normal Heart examines an issue very close to the
author: the response to the AIDS epidemic. The problem discussed is not the AIDS epidemic
itself, but the response to it. While his stated intention for the play was to atone for his sins while on board of GMHC, Kramer used the play to further his activist agenda. There are some elements of pity and fear to be found: Albert's death is messy and incites fear in the audience; and Felix' illness is, of course, undeserved. However, the play does not induce catharsis. It does not have the logical progression in plot prescribed by Aristotle. Instead, the play moves through a rapid series of climaxes as protagonist Ned Weeks clashes with those around him. In addition, the play has a noticeable lack of camp. The only character who does use this mode in any amount is GMHC's Tommy. He introduces himself to Ned as a
"Southern bitch" (I.5) and uses pet names such as "lambchop" (II.9), "sugar" (II.11) and
"sweetness" (II.11). However, the amount of camp in the play is so limited that it does not cause the audience to feel more involved with the play and its characters. Lastly, the romance and death presented in the play serve a purpose: to underscore Ned's opinion on promiscuity.
This is what the audience has come to expect of Kramer, who had a reputation as a combative and polemical troublemaker and never shied away from using AIDS for political purposes.
Catharsis is hindered by the non-Aristotelian plot progression and the mental, not emotional,
treatment of the issue. This, however, is what a problem play is all about: the treatment of and
solution for a social problem (Melani Tragedy). While, as in any play, emotions are involved,
catharsis is not needed in order to reach the audience. This is why The Normal Heart is
successful despite its lack of cathartic release.
ANGELS IN AMERICA: A RENEWED FUTURE
INTRODUCTION TO PLAY, CONTEXT AND AUTHOR
Angels in America, subtitled A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, was written by Tony Kushner in two parts: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika. Part one was first performed by the Center Theatre Group at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in 1990. Its official world premiere, however, was in May 1991 at the Eureka Theatre Company in San Francisco. Its London debut was at the Royal National Theatre almost a year later, in January 1992. Perestroika's official world premiere was in November of that year at, once again, the Mark Taper Forum (Román November 40). The second part premiered in London almost exactly a year later. Despite being set in New York, it was not until May 4, 1993 that Angels appeared on Broadway. Both parts of Kushner's play were critically acclaimed, receiving 13 awards in total. Millennium Approaches was awarded with the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and both plays received the Tony Award for Best Play (1993 and 1994, respectively). In 2003, Angels was made into a six-episode mini series by American cable TV channel HBO, with each episode roughly corresponding to one or two acts of the play. Kushner adapted his original text, causing the TV version to stay faithful to the play. The mini series brought Angels in America to a wider audience.
Whereas The Normal Heart and As Is are quite clearly AIDS plays, it is far more
difficult to put a label on Angels in America. While AIDS is one of the driving forces behind
the action, Tony Kushner's two-part play also deals with such issues as identity, sexuality,
'America' as an idea and interconnectedness between people, to name but a few. The
characters in Angels are all in a historical and sociopolitical maelstrom. By Kushner's own
admission, they are "people being trapped in systems that they did not help creating" (qtd. in
Bigsby 106). In the world on stage, the characters are linked in a multitude of ways. Prior
Walter, the play's protagonist, is revealed to have AIDS early on in the play. His boyfriend
Louis, a left-wing Jewish word processor at the Courts, cannot handle the future of disease and leaves Prior. Indeed, Prior's only friend in this time seems to be Belize, an ex-drag queen, black male nurse and one of the voices of reason in the play. At the Courts, Louis meets Joe, a Reaganite Mormon married closet case, whose wife Harper is addicted to Valium and hallucinates regularly. Joe, as Chief Law Clerk, is invited to work for Roy Cohn, a theatrical reflection of the real-life McCarthyite prosecutor and, according to Louis, "the most evil, twisted, vicious bastard ever to snort coke at Studio 54"
23(2.IV.8). It is this same character who also comes down with AIDS (though he refuses to admit both that and his homosexuality). Soon after, he is hospitalised in the ward where Belize works, forcing the two antithetic characters to be in the same room together.
Superimposed upon this at first sight seemingly imprenetrable web of connections is the story concerning Prior and the angel, indeed not just one of the eponymous angels in America, but the angel of America. (Savran Tony 26). After a series of visions, she finally appears at the end of Millennium Approaches. Her message, however, only becomes clear in Perestroika. The advancement of the human race has proven catastrophic in heaven: "in YOU the virus of TIME began" (2.II.2). This 'virus' of human progress –the link with AIDS is unmistakable– has unravelled heaven, causing heavenquakes and ending with the complete abandonment of God on April 18, 1906 – the day of the Great San Fransisco Earthquake. The solution is thus: "YOU MUST STOP MOVING … Turn back. Undo. Till HE returns again"
(2.II.2). Prior becomes an unwilling prophet and from this moment onwards, his dealings with the heavens resemble that of the biblical figure Jacob. Prior refuses his prophecy of stasis and, like Jacob, wrestles with the angel. His victory gains him entrance to a dishevelled heaven, where he returns the prophecy, and with it denies the idea of stasis as a permanent state of being. Before he leaves, Prior demands the angels' blessing and "more
23All quotations from part one are from Kushner, Tony. Angels in America I: Millennium Approaches.
Nick Hern Books: London, 1995. Quotations from part two are from Kushner, Tony. Angels in America II:
Perestroika. Nick Hern Books: London, 1995.
