Angels in America/Devils in Germany (3 cents)

We just saw "A Bright Room Called Day" (an impossible to remember name), Tony Kushner's first play, performed by the Rorschach Theater Company. Hannah acted as dramaturg and assistant director.

It was a very ambitious project for this relatively small theater company, operating out of a church off 16th Street that itself seems quite impoverished. The play takes place on the stage in Germany, in 1932-1933, and on the screen in America in 1984-1985. The live action follows a group of leftist/Communist friends who see their dream of a Marxist uprising in Germany and a united front againt Fascism turned upside down as Hitler comes into, and consolidates power. The screenplay follows the ravings of Zillah Katz, who seems to fear the Ronald Reagan is almost as bad. (What would she think of George Bush II?)

I thought the play was well done, but it is a very wordy play, and takes almost three hours from curtain to curtain. It gives you a lot to think about both as to how difficult it is to determine which negative trends in governmental policy are truly worrisome, and which are likely to pass, and as to how differently different people react to them. It shows how much can depend on one individual (in this case Hitler), and provides interesting thoughts about why the Germans reacted to him as postively as they did.

Is it the most enjoyable play ever written? The cleverest? The fastest moving? No. But it does provide a worthwhile evening of theater.