‘Raisin In The Sun’ Theater Review: Iconic Play Re-Imagined For the BLM Era

The iconic 1959 play A Raisin In The Sun, which follows the Youngers, a black family trying to move from a tenement in the Chicago’s South Side to a working class white neighborhood, seems ripe for re-exploring for the BLM era with a new production at the Public Theater in New York City.

The family of five is stuck in a two-bedroom apartment in a black ghetto as they await a $10,000 life insurance payout after the death of their father.

Director Robert O’Hera‘s powerful production focuses on the struggle of black manhood of Walter Lee (Francois Batiste), who wants to use the windfall to buy into a liquor store. Matriarch Lena (Tonya Perkins) insists that the funds go toward buying a new home to help lift the family out of poverty. Her daughter Beneatha (Paige Gilbert) wants to use the money to go to medical school while trying to decide between two suitors. The ghost of Lena’s late husband haunts to the apartment – stealing some of her lines in the process.

Lorraine Hansberry’s play ended on a hopefully note about the power of American upward mobility – not so with O’Hera’s production, which, without spoiling the kicker, ends on a dramatically powerful note. This Raisin is no sweet fruit.

Raisin In The Sun is playing at the Public Theater until November 20.