A Raisin in the Sun at the Lyric Hammersmith

Lorraine Hansbury’s A Raisin in the Sun receives a warm-hearted and staggering revival in director Tinuke Craig’s take on the seminal 1959 play.

Set against the backdrop of segregation and racial inequality in 1950s America, Hansbury’s classic story follows the lives of the Younger family: matriarch Lena (Doreene Blackstock), her adult children Walter Lee (Solomon Israel) and Beneatha (Joséphine-Fransilja Brookman), daughter-in-law Ruth (Cash Holland) and grandson Travis. Following the death of Lena’s husband, the family await the arrival of a $10,000 life insurance cheque that could provide the opportunity to change each of their lives forever.

Craig, in this Headlong co-production, manages to navigate the many themes of Hansbury’s tale of racial inequality, generational divides and human struggle with taut precision and a willingness to embrace the script’s more humorous elements. The principal cast breathes life into the family dynamic of this revival where, as sudden events and individual aspirations look to drive our characters further apart, through the wittiness and depth of their performances, we are provided with enough warmth and optimism to keep us believing in the survival of the Younger family throughout the tales darker moments.

A pioneer in many ways, Lorraine Hansbury tapped into what has now been dubbed as “the quarter-life crisis” through the character of Walter Lee: a 30-something-year-old family man whose often naive schemes in the pursuit of the American Dream threaten the interests of the family unit. Solomon Israel excels as the ambitious but life-wearied Lee, bringing tenderness and complexity to the role. In a pivotal scene between Lee and Karl (Jonah Russell), a white man from the “Clybourne Welcoming Committee” that strives to maintain racial divides in American communities, Israel’s restrained performance delivers heart-wrenching vulnerability as he draws upon Lee’s internal struggle to set aside the masculine facade and realise the loss of his own ambition.

What sets Craig’s revival apart from its predecessor’s is set-designer Cécile Trémolières’s unique creation of the Younger home. Here the set of the Chicago apartment, a four-walled box with one window and just enough room to fit the family, is winged by occasionally transparent walls that, when lit up, reveal the cast performances outside of the wider scene. It is a captivating approach that, quite literally, allows for the walls of their home to tell the story of the Younger family.

Headlong’s co-production of Hansbury’s tale of struggle, racial inequality and the pursuit of the American Dream is a faithful and powerful revival of the 1959 classic; brimming with wholehearted humour, domestic drama and powerful central performances.

Ronan Fawsitt
Photo: Ikin Yum

A Raisin in the Sun is at the Lyric Hammersmith from 8^th October until 2^nd November 2024. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.