Directed by the Royal Court's artistic director, Dominic Cooke, who launched his regime at the theatre directing another Norris play, The Pain and the Itch, in 2007, the West End transfer sees Lorna Brown, Sarah Goldberg, Michael Goldsmith, Lucian Msamati, Sam Spruell and Sophie Thompson reprising their roles, newly joined by Stephen Campbell Moore and Stuart McQuarrie. It has won the Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Theatre Awards for Best New Play. The play, which was inspired by Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, was previously produced in February 2010 at New York's Playwrights Horizons, and in other U.S. cities. The play explores the fault line between race and property. Written in two parts, over two generations in 1959 and 2009, the play has the company perform a different role in each act. The first act, set in 1959, revolves around Russ and Bev, who are selling their desirable two-bedroom at a knock-down price. This enables the first black family to move into the neighborhood, creating ripples of discontent among the cozy white urbanites of Clybourne Park. In 2009, the same property is being bought by Lindsey and Steve whose plans to raze the house and start again is met with a similar response. Are the issues festering beneath the floorboards actually the same 50 years on?
To book tickets, contact the box office on 0844 482 5120, or visit www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk.
