Cast need time to grow with this modern classic
|||A RAISIN IN THE SUN
PLAYWRIGHT: Lorraine Hansberry
DIRECTOR: James Ngcobo
CAST: Paka Zwedala, Lesedi Job, Trena Bolden Fields, Gaosi Raditholo, Hungani Ndlovu, Charlie Bouguenon, Lebo Toko, Khathu Ramabulana, Khulu Skenjana
VENUE: John Kani Theatre at The Market
UNTIL: February 28
RATING: 3 stars (out of 5)
Diane de Beer
“Once upon a time, freedom was life, now it’s money,” says one of the character’s in Hansberry’s iconic play – that’s why it’s easy to relate to in this country at this time. But even more importantly, it’s not something said today or even this century, these are words written about people in the US in the late ’50s.
And it happens time and again in this extraordinary play, things are said that could be here, now, in this country – and really anywhere around the world.
The Younger family are all dreamers, but first in line is Walter Lee Younger, a man with a dream deferred that has also stalled his life.
“Until I get the money,” he says and he is speaking of his father’s legacy, $10 000 in insurance money that should arrive that day or the next for his mother. If only he could persuade her to invest in his future, he knows it will turn around his and his family’s lives.
And while he stands first in line when it comes to emotional neediness, everyone in the family has specific dreams about the way their lives could be changed in the foreseeable future. Until finally they take charge and give themselves perhaps the first real chance of change.
It’s obvious why Ngcobo has chosen this one to celebrate both 40 years of The Market and Black History Month. It’s a play that has never been staged in Joburg, yet it captures the lives of so many – present and past – and, sadly, probably long into the future. The words are both poetic and powerful as this story is told by a cast perhaps too young and inexperienced to withstand the pressures of a tough opening night.
But that’s why they have been given the opportunity, to learn and to grow – and they will.
It’s a tough ask though, because while listening to what should be an emotionally devastating story, the expanse of the stage simply doesn’t encapsulate the claustrophobic lives of this too-large family for what should seem a much tighter space – both physically and emotionally.
It’s also difficult to journey with their searching souls if you can’t get in touch with the story because of runaway pace and unrelenting rhythms which seem to have banished any sense of play or real contact between the players.
When one misses a beat, there’s no one to catch the slack and even though there are some powerful moments, there are also too many opportunities missed. Even the costumes felt as if they didn’t quite capture the circumstances of this family at that time.
The performance side, things will change as the potentially exciting ensemble take a deep breath and tell their story with confidence and truth.
And, hopefully, the space will shrink and offer more intimacy as they tightly knit together to draw in the audience.
In the Langston Hughes’s poem Harlem, where Hansberry found the title, this is what he has to say:
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun
Or fester like a sore – And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat
Or crust and sugar over – like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
So has anything changed? Or is it, as Ngcobo suggests in the programme notes: “The questions posed remain unanswered today.” Simply look around you.
At the moment, the play’s the thing – and a belief that the rest will come.
Presented by the The Market Theatre in association with the US Embassy.
