Angels in America: Part I - The Millennium Approaches
There are plays that entertain, and there are plays that leave a mark on civilisation itself. Tony Kushner’s Angels in America belongs firmly to the latter.
Set in mid-1980s America, Millennium Approaches follows a web of characters whose lives are upended by illness, desire, and political change. At its heart is Prior Walter, diagnosed with AIDS, whose abandonment by his lover forces him into a confrontation with mortality. Parallel to this, a closeted Mormon lawyer wrestles with his faith, his sexuality, and his marriage, while his mentor — the ruthless, real-life lawyer Roy Cohn — rages against his own decline.
The play blends the domestic and the cosmic: angels descend, ghosts intrude, and private suffering is set against the grand sweep of American destiny. Kushner’s genius lies in refusing to sentimentalise — exposing both the cruelty and the courage of an age, and reminding us that history is always lived at the level of human frailty.
First staged in the early 1990s, against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic and political upheaval, Kushner’s drama swiftly established itself as one of the defining works of modern theatre. By turns furious and humane, poetic and unflinching, it addresses questions of mortality, love, politics, and the shifting moral compass of an age on the brink.
Presented by the Grove's in-house production company, the very team behind Talking Heads, The Mirror Crack'd, Macbeth and The Shawshank Redemption.
The Grove's seating is unreserved. Doors open 30 minutes before the start of the performance. For full details of our policies, including accessibility, please visit our website here.
