Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes

Three days after the end of Act II, Prior is asleep at home in the throes of a nightmare. Turning on a light, Prior is startled and frightened to see a man (Prior 1, played by the actor who plays Joe) sitting there, dressed in the garb of a British squire from the 13th century. The man introduces himself as Prior Walter. Prior 1 says that he is an ancestor and the fifth descendant to have the name. Prior says that he is the 34th, according to his mother, but Prior 1 argues that his mother is “including the two bastards” (92), whom Prior 1 doesn’t count. Prior 1 notices that Prior is taking pills “for the pestilence” (92 and describes how overwhelming pestilence was when he was alive. Prior 1 died of the plague, which had wiped out entire villages. Prior 1 adds that he, like Prior, died alone, noting that Prior doesn’t have a wife or children. Prior tells him that he’s gay, but Prior 1 doesn’t understand, stating that he had 12 children.

Another ancestor, Prior 2 (played by the actor who plays Roy) appears, and Prior screams. Prior 2 is “prior to you by some seventeen others”.