Angels in America is a pivotal performance in this year’s Festival. Get to know the context of this epoch-defining work.

Tony Kushner's Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is one of the defining works of late twentieth-century theatre. Set in 1980s New York at the height of the AIDS crisis, it follows two men confronting devastating diagnoses, former drag queen Prior Walter and ruthless, closeted conservative lawyer Roy Cohn. Together, alongside a Mormon couple in crisis, and a cast of characters both earthly and supernatural, Angels in America is furious, funny, and heartbreaking.

This is not a play about a crisis that has passed. It is a play about the world we still live in.

The Production

Ivo van Hove's radical reworking for Internationaal Theater Amsterdam fuses both parts of the play into a single, five-hour continuous journey, on a minimal set accompanied by a David Bowie soundtrack. Kushner himself has called it his favourite version of his masterpiece. It is a gripping and hilarious work which reminds us that while change and death are inevitable, the choice to love can be transformative.   

ITA return to the International Festival following A Little Life (2022) and Penthesilea (2024).

Hear from Festival Director Nicola Benedetti:

See You There

Angels in America runs at King's Theatre from Saturday 15 to Thursday 20 August. 

Performed in Dutch with English surtitles. The performance unfolds in two parts: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika. Running time approximately 4 hours 55 minutes, with a 45-minute interval. Grazing boxes are available to pre-order. 

Supported by Sir Ewan and Lady Brown

with additional support from Robin and Vivienne† Menzies and Performing Arts Fund NL