Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens
The Point, Eastleigh
"An amazing and passionate performance"
4 stars
Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens features a song cycle and monologues inspired by the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial quilt and Edgar Lee Masters spoon river anthology. The show beautifully illustrates that being a victim of AIDS is not subjected to any particular gender, age, race or sexual orientation.
The monologues are in place to tell the story of the different characters that have died from AIDS which the cast speaks the words in a manner that follows its meaning rather then its rhyme.
To get past the current restrictions due to Covid, these are performed via videos that are projected onto the stage. Besides a couple of technical difficulties with this, the idea behind it was smart and effective.
Telling the individual stories of the friends and family members and the way they deal with their loss are told through the beautifully written songs by Bill Russell and Janet Hood.
Performed by a very talented quartet involving Tyler Convery, Kiean Jones, Holly Standfield and Summer Hughes. These four produced an amazing and passionate performance. With incredible vocals and gorgeous harmonies balanced with a simple but effective band lead by Nigel Finch. The songs ‘and the rain keeps falling down’ and the finale number ‘learning to let go’ were particularly brilliant! Special mention goes to Kiean Jones who at last minute had to step into the role as Doug and astounded with his beautiful tone and enthusiasm.
The lighting by Becky Starks with the Pride rainbow colours at the end was very powerful and deserves a mention. Centrestage Productions and the two directors Mike Mullen and Will Jones should be proud of all cast and all the production team involved. I think we can all agree that it is amazing to be back at the theatre.
Well done to everyone at The Point who made the audience feel incredibly safe with socially distanced seating and one-way systems.
Although very moving and at times sad, the performance was also uplifting. Well done to all those involved.