ENG140Y1 Lecture 11: 11 Angels in America 1
Document Summary
Context for angels in america: de ning terms. Queer (reclaimed though politicized word: contemporary: lgbtq(ia, performance of the play; staging. Millennium approaches and pararal;kj;lk, the two parts of the play: second part revised repeatedly, written format of play important to kushner; line breaks important, physical format of text on the page, like poetry. Subtitle: a gay fantasia of national themes: fantasia: a piece of no xed form, freely roving expression of imagination, national themes reagan, cold war, aids, queer activism. Main characters: gay couple; one who contracts aids, one who does not, heterosexual mormon closeted man & his wife, various amuricans in the cold war bureaucracy positions, the angel; a sort of limited semi-presence. Characters run into each other; intwining in the story lines, actors doubling up roles as main characters and side characters, except lewis. Play often includes simultaneously staged scenes: one such national theme : hiv/aids epidemic in the 1980s.
