PAULINE ARMOUR, Director, introduces the sharp-witted, provocative, award winning comedy
Acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, a Royal Court Theatre, West End and Broadway sell-out, this smash-hit comedy now comes to the GWT. This wickedly funny and fiercely provocative play about race , real estate, gender and the volatile values of each has won nearly every honour the theatre has to give, including a Pullitzer Prize, Tony and Olivier awards.
One house, two histories. In Chicago 1959, an African-American family moves into a house in the middle class neighbourhood of Clybourne Park, to the mortification of its all-white residents. Then fast forward 50 years to 2009 and the same house is again changing hands , this time to a young, white, upwardly mobile couple with plans for demolition in a district that is now becoming gentrified. The parallels with modern day inner-city London are not insignificant.
Inspired by the American theatre classic, A Raisin in the Sun, playwight Bruce Norris skewers the conventions of political correctness with humour and insight. Lightning quick repartee leaves the audience laughing, perhaps in shocked surprise, and definitely reconsidering what it means to call a place home. Jokes fly and hidden agendas unfold as two vastly different generations of characters tip-toe the delicate dance of social politics, pitting race against real estate. These hilarious and at times horrifying neighbours pitch a battle over territory reminiscient of a Wild West duel raising the question as to how far our prejudices about race and gentrification have evolved - or not, as the case may be.
The seven characters are often outrageously funny as they trot out their liberal middle class platitudes, revealing that racism is still a live issue in the 21st century even though it is politically correct to forget the fact. Like all great comedies beneath the hilarity lurks great emotional depth, mixing nervy humour with festering pain, particularly revealed in the first act. It is in the second act, however, that Norris encapsulates the key points of Clybourne Park culminating in a memorable scene which generates from the audience a roar of laughter and disbelief and is perhaps one of the most astonishing scenes in recent theatre.
Not for the faint hearted, easily offended or for those of a nervous disposition - but if you are broadminded, adventurous and want to see "a firecracker of a play" (Daily Telegraph), then definitely not to be missed!!"
‘Norris’s play nails the thorny issue of race relations with a bilious zest that takes one’s breath away."(The Guardian) |