Walter Lee Younger has a dream - a dream that will get him and his family out of their tiny apartment in Southside Chicago. Money is coming, and with it will come freedom, dignity and ease. As the dream collapses a new man is born. And a new dream...Originally produced in 1959, A Raisin in the Sun was the first successful Broadway play by a Black writer. Hansberry was the youngest person and the first African-American to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. When she was eight years old, a brick was thrown through the window of Lorraine Hansberry's home with such force that it embedded itself in a wall. The Hansberrys, a successful African-American family, had moved into an all-white area. This event and the legal fight that followed inspired her lifelong struggle for racial equality - and her most well known, groundbreaking and influential work A Raisin In the Sun.
With Debbie Allen's stirring production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof wowing London audiences with an all black cast, what better time to reaquaint ourselves with Lorraine Hansberry's classic A Raisin In The Sun - the first play directed by a black woman to play on Broadway. Like the West End Cat, this fantastic production truly delivers.
Set in Chicago in 1959, this slow burning tale follows the lives of the Younger family, in their cramped and tired old rented home. Every day is a struggle; from the sprint to the shared bathroom, to their gallant efforts to fill the pantry. There is never enough money to go round.
Matriarch, Lena (Starletta DuPois) lives for her late husband's name and strives to do well by the family. Waiting for the $10,000 insurance cheque, the other members are keen to see how the money will be spent. Her daughter-in-law Ruth (Jenny Jules) longs to live in a better place and like Lena is trapped in the world of domestic service. Walter Lee Younger (Ray Fearon) is the angry young man who is desperate to make something of himself. His rants are often ignored, yet he speaks so much sense - linking the racial divide to quashed dreams.
Walter's bookish sister Beneatha (Tracey Ifeachor) wants to be a doctor but her ideals often clash with her aspirations, as she feels culturally that she is often betraying herself. Young Travis (played by Lyndon Rhoden on the night I attended) is happy-go-lucky but fully aware that his daddy drinks too much.
Ellen Cairns' evocative set captures the period detail incredibly well and also the claustophobia. Lena's plant sits in the kitchen window, representing the stunted social growth that the family suffer. Buffong keeps the play moving at just the right pace. This means that the actors are allowed to explore their characters, rather than simply play them.
Fearon is tremendous, as he changes from ranting drunk to broken man before your very eyes, moving you to tears in the process. Jules is a chameleon as she too is downtrodden yet filled with the promise of a better world and when she smiles, it really lights up the Exchange. Ifeachor and Rhoden are also excellent as the next generation who witness so much pain.
Damola Adelaja is also very effective as Joseph, the character who opens Beneatha's eyes to a world beyond their cockroach ridden home. It is DuPois though, who keeps you rivetted throughout, as she is majestic as the Younger backbone. This gifted actress sparkles, showing the audience that beneath the heartache, there is hope.
Buffong's A Raisin In The Sun is perfectly rendered and it becomes as iconic as Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman and All My Sons in his hands. You feel like you are eavesdropping on the family, as their lives ebb away, but he fills the production with so much love and loyalty that you will leave the theatre feeling exhausted, yet exhilarated.
Powerful and poignant, this is the year's first must-see piece of theatre.
Absolutely fantastic, this show is the first time I have given a standing ovation in a very long time.
We were lucky enough to attend the first preview and the audience there clearly loved this piece of theatre.
The cast were sublime, there was not one weak member in the entire company led from the matriarch of the family to the youngest cast member.
Well deserved 5 stars by What's On Stage as well, this truly is a piece of theatre I felt privileged to have been able to witness. - Karl Burge
03 Feb 10
Amazing performances in a great play which has to be seen. Take some tissues! Brilliant! - Ruth Taylor
03 Feb 10
-
I have just spent the evening in theatre heaven at The Royal Exchange and if there is justice in the world, this show should get a national tour.
Fantastic from the alarm that starts the show to 'At Last' by Etta James played at the end. Tears of joy, laughter and sorrow streamed down mine and my husbands face. Standouts include Mama, Walter, Ruth and the eloquent Nigerian suitor, Joseph. The young Travis must also be commended. - Deborah Rhys-Jones
03 Feb 10
I was rivetted from start to finish. What a show. I cried my eyes out and laughed in equal measure. The talent on that stage blew my socks off and I especially wanted to stand up and cheer at Damola Adelaja's rousing speech about being a black leader. Du Pois is a class act and Jenny Jules endlessly watchable. Adelaja was ever so charming and so watchable and the daughter, Ifeachor a dream. Design was super too. Power house show. - Maureen Daniels.
03 Feb 10
When I read the synopsis just before we went, I couldn't think why we'd chosen this play and was not looking forward to it.
However, it was really very good with excellent performances from the lead actors, in partricular Starletta Dupois as the mother. The story moved along well and caught the audience up in the emotions of the piece.
Excellent cast all round, though Osegai's perpetual grin was rather too much and the young boy playing Travis needs to learn to project his voice as he was inaudible when he had his back to us.
Just occasionally, emotive speeches were too long and therefore lost impact but, that said, it was a really engossing play with humour as well as clear messages for life.
- Trish Hall
Whatsonstage.com - Discount London theatre tickets, theatre news and reviews, Theatre videos, Theatre discussion, National Theatre Listings. Covering London's West End, all of Theatreland and all UK theatre. The best
for London Theatre Tickets Discounts.
