In Angels in America, Tony Kushner uses the device of split stage scenes to equalize and humanize his characters. This ultimately serves to force the audience to care about the AIDS epidemic more viscerally.
Not every audience member will be able to sympathize with every character in this story, but presumably they can with at least a few of them. Even though not every character is universally palatable, the play as a whole still acts as an emotional punch to the viewer, urging action to aid in the fight against AIDS. Part of the reason this is possible is through these split stage moments. The one discussed in class today, between Prior and Harper, is a perfect example.
Both of them unpack their pain in this scene. For Prior, his pain is partly his loneliness and hurt that Louis has left him in this moment of crisis and partly because he is being confronted with his own impending death. In one word, he feels “robbed,” both of his life and his love (31). Harper’s pain also stems from her loneliness. Her husband leaves her alone frequently and does not make her feel cared for even when he is around. While Prior’s pain is hard for the average person to relate to, Harper’s is much more accessible. Many people have felt the loneliness of incompatibility, even if they are not so fundamentally incompatible as Harper and Joe.
Because these two characters appear in this scene together, a comparison is intentionally drawn. The pain of each is better understood through the other. For a moment they are equalized, and being able to empathize with either character brings about the capacity to empathize with both. However, by the end of the scene, a distinction is drawn.
Harper makes a point to say “I can’t expect someone who’s really sick to entertain me” (33). The word “really” is what jumps out here. Harper’s monologues seem to dominate the latter half of this scene, so her pain becomes especially potent and accessible to the viewer. When she points out that, despite her depth of pain, Prior has far more reason to despair, it allows all her words about depression to relate to Prior’s emotions, giving the audience a means with which to grasp the horrific experience that Prior, and millions of other gay men, went through with AIDS.
I think queer audiences of Angels in America understand the pain quite fine without these scenes, but as a piece of activist literature, the task of convincing straight audiences to care is one to be considered.
I really like your claim that the author uses the split scenes to help people better understand the situation of queer people. Prior’s experience of having AIDS may not be that easy for readers who might not have queer experience or AIDS experience to understand. However, Harper’s loneliness and sadness are closer to readers and thus easier to understand. By using the split scene, the author shows readers’ the similarity between this two people’s situation and thus help readers better understand the impact of AIDS on queer people’s life.