Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Angels in America by Tony Kushner

8 reviews

lorel773's review

dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Excrement, Addiction, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Grief

lambclown's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical trauma, Mental illness, Medical content, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Addiction, Chronic illness, Racial slurs, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Blood, Religious bigotry, and Death

marthadude's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Absolute masterpiece. Is perhaps one of the best fictional characters (along with Belize) and Louis is one of the worst.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Drug use, Grief, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Addiction, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Outing

clarathromycin's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Outing, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Infidelity, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, and Vomit

Moderate: Cancer and Sexual harassment

readingpicnic's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Excrement, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Death, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Infidelity, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

Minor: Racism and Miscarriage

allygator's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 This is hands-down my favorite play of all time. I love every single thing about it. This is the play that made me fall in love with the art of theatre and inspires the art I create now. Watching Andrew Garfield play Prior Walter completely shifted what I thought acting could be, and to this day is a level of performance I aspire to achieve.
In case you couldn't know, this is not an objective review at all. A lot of who I am now has been made by the impact this play had on me, so I'm incredibly biased when it comes down to reviewing it.
The best thing about this play is how the characters are written. They all are exceptionally flawed, and it makes them feel like people right out of the streets of New York. There are times when reading this when I get so honestly angry at the characters because they're so flawed and make such terrible decisions. It's real and very well written, but it makes me feel a lot of things.
I do think that as incredible as this script is, nothing comes even remotely close to the experience of watching a filmed or live production of it. Seriously, if you can, take two days and watch this. You won't regret it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Addiction, Drug use, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Medical content, Racial slurs, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Blood, Excrement, Grief, Violence, Vomit, and Sexual content

Minor: Cancer, Pregnancy, and Dementia

clrlilli's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Excrement, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, and Vomit

greenie_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'd been putting off this one for a while because 1) It was an audiobook play, which I haven't tried before and 2) Because of the dark and depressing subject matter and 3) Because it's a highly rated classic and I've been disappointed by a lot of those recently. 

Well, I'm so glad I finally took the plunge! Angels in America was an incredible experience. 

This was the first full cast play I've listened to and the acting was fantastic. Every single actor brought their character to life and I felt it play like a movie in my mind. I especially enjoyed Andrew Garfield as Prior Walter and Nathan Lane as Roy Cohn. Their voices felt perfect for the characters and really brought forward the kind of people they were and their situation. I hope that one day I can see this play, not just listen to it.

Now, about the story itself. 

The premise: Set in mid 1980s New York, it begins when Prior reveals his diagnosis of AIDS to his partner Louis, a Jew who works as a legal clerk. Belize is a former drag queen and current nurse who provides medical care for AIDS patients, and emotional support for his friends Prior and Louis. Joe is Louis's coworker, a Mormon and Republican whose wife, Harper, has mental health problems and drug dependency. Roy Cohn (the only historical character) is a powerful and bigoted lawyer who is mentor to Joe and (spoilers for major event that happens very early)

is also diagnosed with AIDS.

 

The story explores themes such as how different people approach illness and death, whether fear, strength or weakness; the will to live; the nature of love, and what it means for love to succeed or fail; how a person's moral framework and life choices affect each other; and how empathy and hatred interact.

While I had my fears about the subject matter, it was surprisingly not as depressing as I had expected. Prior is thankfully not depicted as a helpless tragedy, but a strong person who is going through very difficult things. He still has a breadth of human experiences throughout the story, in different relationships and emotions, not only the negative. This story is sad, but it's certainly not misery porn.  There is a deep sense of goodness and hopefulness to the narrative. 

I absolutely loved this story and highly recommend it to anyone interested in a classic of American and queer history! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Homophobia, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Medical content, and Racial slurs

Minor: Drug abuse