A Raisin in the Sun

Director
Sydney Theatre Company
2022

A Raisin in the Sun is an iconic work of American theatre, a powerful portrait of one Black family’s struggle to hold onto hope in a society intent on keeping them down, and an unmissable night of theatre.

Premiering in 1959, when Lorraine Hansberry was just 29 years old, the play was the first by an African American woman to be shown on Broadway and it continues to challenge and move audiences generations later.

Living in a segregated neighbourhood of Chicago in the 1950s, the five members of the Younger family are all looking for ways to improve their lot: some through activism, some through fortune and some through simple feats of self-determination. The arrival of a long-awaited life insurance cheque gives the close-knit family a chance to consider the possibility of a better life. But the  distance between dreams and reality proves further than any of them anticipated.

Directed by Wesley Enoch (Appropriate), this production marked the first time ever that A Raisin in the Sun was performed on an Australian mainstage. This is a gripping and moving story of one family which contains all the pathos and resilience of the human spirit.