ANGELS IN AMERICA opens in Switzerland, with costume design by Mel Page

Simon Stone’s production of ANGELS IN AMERICA has premiered internationally at Theatre Basel in Switzerland, with costumes designed by Mel Page. Scripted by award-winning playwright Tony Kushner in 1993, the play is a complex and often metaphorical exploration of societal attitudes towards homosexuality in Reagan’s America of the 1980s, with a particular focus on the AIDS crisis. A six-hour production staged in three parts, Stone’s adaptation of ANGELS has been hailed as a “theatrical epic” by Dagmar Walser of SRF, and Martin Holder of Badische Zeitung has called the production a triumph in “intelligent, modern storytelling”.

Critics have also praised Mel’s design in particular, with Alfred Schlienger of NZZ commending Mel’s creative costuming choices for allowing the same actors to believably inhabit various different roles throughout the course of the play: “Barbara Horvath earned the crown as queen of mutability in six roles… and Myriam Schröder easily oscillates between nurse, homeless woman, and lascivious main angel in a trench coat and red high heels”. Andreis Klaui of Spiegel has also praised Mel’s costume design, saying it is evident that “much time” has been spent on creating costumes that add “colour and attitude” to the play.

ANGELS IN AMERICA plays at Theatre Basel in Basel, Switzerland, until 20th December. Tickets are available on the Theatre Basel website. Photo by Sandra Then.