A Raisin in the Sun – Nottingham Playhouse

Writer: Lorraine Hansberry

Director: Tinuke Craig

In a rented Chicago apartment, the Younger family have dreams of a better life – and thanks to a life insurance policy, it’s just possible that those dreams may be about to become a reality. Yet although they all dream of change, the aspirations of each member of the family differ. Mama Lena wants to own her own home. Daughter Beneatha wants to be a doctor, and son Walter Lee has plans to increase their finances by investing in a liquor store.

A Raisin in the Sun is a groundbreaking and significant work by Lorraine Hansberry – not least because it was the first play by a black woman to appear on Broadway when it debuted in 1959, breaking down barriers that had existed for generations. A drama with a cast where all but one character is black, in the 1950s this was something noteworthy.

Act one, in particular, is wordy and slow, setting the scene and the environment and introducing the characters, with little in the way of significant action or plot development taking place for a good while. Once it gets going though, it becomes quite gripping and engrossing when Lena reveals what she’s done with some of the money and entrusts Walter with the rest to put aside for Beneatha’s studies, leading to a dramatic final few minutes.

There are strong performances all round from the cast. Doreene Blackstock gives Lena a determined personality, making it clear that although the children are adults she is still their mother and they had better listen to what she’s telling them. Critical but loving and trusting, she has a nicely self-controlled disappointment rather than anger at their failings. Beneatha (Joséphine-Fransilja Brookman) is similarly determined, but her focus is on civil rights and equality, both racial and gender. Her two suitors George (Gilbert Kyem Jnr) and Joseph (Kenneth Omole) represent opposite sides of the black experience – George tries to be integrated and assimilated into society, while displaying a casual misogyny and a supercilious attitude towards those who don’t care for his one-upmanship attitudes; Joseph Asagai, meanwhile, is proud of his African heritage, bringing Beneatha Nigerian presents and encouraging her to be herself.

Solomon Israel gives us a Walter overflowing with different emotions – bitter and angry, optimistic and excited, drunk and dismissive, disappointed and despairing – it’s a very strong portrayal of a complex character. Cash Holland is a Ruth who’s quietly in despair. Often badly treated by husband Walter, she longs for him to do the right thing, while Jonah Russell (Karl) is a believable, deeply unpleasant representative of the Welcoming Committee.

It’s been sixty-five years since its debut, can the piece still feel relevant and significant today? Although superficially it’s about the family’s middle-class aspirations and improving their lot, there’s a deeper message here and it’s a message about freedom. It’s about the freedom to choose your own path in life, whether that’s by owning the property that you want, or following the career path that inspires you. In the intervening time, many things have improved yet you may find yourself thinking about how relevant parts of the piece still feel today, and not just for black communities – dealing with emboldened racism, housing inequality and the struggle that many have to escape a life of poverty.

By the end, you feel so invested in the family and their story that you want to know what happens next. Clybourne Park gives us a hint but that play is set during the fifty years after A Raisin in the Sun, while Beneatha’s Place tells us how life turns out for Beneatha – but we have to speculate on how the months immediately following this piece turn out for the family. Maybe it’s something best left to our imagination.

Runs until 16 November 2024