Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens

Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens was developed in the late 1980s and was originally titled "The Quilt. The work features songs and monologues inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt and features a series of monologues written from the perspective of characters who died from AIDS, with songs representing the feelings of friends and family members dealing with the loss. I wasn’t sure if the subject matter would work as a musical or be too depressing and sad to enjoy. How wrong I was. It is a beautifully put together and very poignant series of monologues often with humour, humility and acceptance; their stories staying with you long after the end of the show.

I was blown away by the performances. Each story was entwined by beautiful music sung superbly by four excellent singers and accompanied by two keyboards under the direction of Justin Ayres. George and Ed’s voices blended beautifully together, especially in the up tempo, punchy number ‘I don’t do that anymore’. From the start Georgia proved an extremely engaging and charismatic performer, with a lovely clear tone to her singing voice. Her stunning rendition of ‘Angels, Punks and Raging Queens’ really set the standard, which remained high for every song, not least her other solo ‘My Brother lived in San Francisco’. Likewise, Linsay brought warmth and naturalness to her performance and a serene quality to her vocals. These four performers were all terrific and sang with openness, honesty and perfect harmonies, drawing the audience in to the sentiment of each song. Very well done.

The rest of the cast sat amongst the audience and got up when it was time to tell their story. As they stepped up onto the stage they often interacted with the actor leaving, which provided some lovely moments of friendship and unspoken compassion. Each monologue was very different in style and told a very different story, from a nurse accidentally infected whilst working on a ward, to the wife of a haemophiliac infected with a blood transfusion who goes on to infect her and her children. I don’t think I can single out anyone in this talented cast as all of the acting was superb, each story unfolding with sincerity, love and emotion.

The monologues are written in rhyming verse but the actors took care to speak through the natural rhythms so they came across as prose. They were beautifully directed by Rich Pugh and Barbara Ingledew, so that each monologue built slowly to its conclusion and held the audience enthralled. With a cast of 4 singers and 25 actors, including one talented younger actor, there was plenty of variation in the characters and their stories, and the show was a perfect length.

Lighting was well designed with effects to mark the changes in pace, mood and emotions of each story.

The show ended with ‘Learning to let go’ where the whole cast sang from the audience and encouraged us all to clap along. It was an uplifting, optimistic end to what was a wonderful, poignant and memorable afternoon of theatre. Many congratulations to all involved and thank you for reminding us of some of the people affected by this terrible disease; who carried their affliction with acceptance, often good humour and stoicism and should not be forgotten. This was theatre at its very best. Bravo!

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