Perth Voice Interactive

RAW emotion, nudity, sex, chunks of almost incomprehensibly pacey dialogue, humour, elements of Spielberg and  Pythonesque characters; Angels in America is a breathtaking ride.

Homophobia, racism, religion, politics and the corrupting nature of power are central themes in playwright Tony Kushner’s multi-award winning work.

The play tackles head-on the homophobia at the heart of many religions, with a gloriously blazing bible appearing from the stage floor and Jewish funeral opening the action.

Subtitled A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Angels follows Prior Walter (Adam Booth), a young gay man diagnosed with aids in the mid 80s.

Deserted by his partner Louis (Will O’Mahony), facing death, desperate and alone, he’s visited by an angel who prophesies his role in saving humanity — or at least American society.

Booth is fantastic and the scene in which he lays sobbing and begging Louis not to leave, then shitting himself because he’s in too much pain to reach the toilet, is profoundly real and gut-wrenching.

Also central is Joe Pitt (Stuart Halusz) a Mormon struggling to repress his homosexuality. He uses his wife Harper’s (Jo Morris) valium addiction as an excuse to avoid sex, oblivious that his inner struggle is the root cause of her problems.

Harper escapes into fantasy, often with Prior and the strange Belize (Kenneth Ransom) in bizarre dream sequences.

Recently Halusz told the Voice he’d never had to kiss a man before: “I’m not sure how I feel about it, ask me in three weeks,” he grinned.

He pulls it off with professional aplomb in a touching scene where his character finally comes out. No spoiler there — it’s inevitable.

John Stanton plays Joe’s boss Roy Cohn, the character based on a real life lawyer of the same name who’s backdoor dealings with judges ensured spy Ethel Rosenberg went to the electric chair at the height of the Cold War, despite public calls for clemency.

Like the real-life Cohn, Staunton’s character is a closet gay hiding the fact he’s dying of aids. Staunton is wonderfully repellent as Cohn draws Joe into a web of lies and deceit to protect himself from being disbarred for embezzling a client.

The play, directed by Kate Cherry, moves from slow, dream-like sequences to fast-paced, frenetic scenes that leave the audience spinning to keep up.

And the dramatic ending had the whole theatre holding its collective breath, thanks to set designer Christina Smith and lighting designer Matt Scott.

Black Swan’s Angels in America is on at the State Theatre until June 19.

by JENNY D’ANGER