On Wednesday 23rd October, Ms Goldman and Ms Okolosie took our Year 13 English Literature students to watch A Raisin in the Sun at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith. A Raisin in the Sun features the story of a Black family’s attempts to improve their life in southside Chicago in the nineteen fifties.
Written by Lorraine Hansbury, A Raisin in the Sun was the first play by a Black woman to be put on Broadway, where it debuted in 1959. After the play, we were lucky enough to meet two members of the cast who happily posed for photos with our students.
The play provided a contrast and comparison to a set text Death of a Salesman. It also provided links to Marxist and Feminist literary theory for the student coursework as well as helped with analysis of staging in a drama and witnessing the development and representation of character on stage.