A Raisin In The Sun

Presented by Eclipse Theatre, Sheffield Crucible & Coventry Belgrade Theatre
Liverpool Playhouse
2nd March - 5th 2016

Reviewed by Colin Serjent

I heard the broadcast of this play on R3 in January and, to be perfectly frank, watching this adaptation on stage at the Playhouse did not enhance my appreciation of the story. With all the talking involved, with little visual appeal, this was more suited to the radio.

Raisin In The Sun, written by Lorraine Hansberry sixty years ago, centres around the overt discrimination of black people in the USA.

How little has changed even with a black President at the White House.

It depicts the struggles of the Younger family, living in a two-bedroom "rat-trap" in Chicago. They all have dreams of what they want to achieve in life but which they will never attain.

Hansbury portrays the family as a symbol of African Americans trying to be recognised as so-called 'pure Americans'. They may ask themselves what percentage are we African and what percentage American?

The dialogue at times sounded wooden and dated, which proved a mite tiresome to listen to.

The play attempts to face the many questions of why are African Americans so marginalised in the country they were born in. These questions will still be asked time and time again in the future.

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