This has been a banner year for Lorraine Hansberry appreciation.
First came the sharp, poignant Broadway revival of one of Hansberry’s rarely produced works, “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” with stellar performances from Oscar Isaac, Rachel Brosnahan, and Tony recipient Miriam Silverman.
Then lucky Philadelphians were treated to an even rarer piece, “Les Blancs,” when regionally based EgoPo Classic Theatre mounted a sprawling, thought-provoking production that teamed local actors and directors with counterparts from Cape Town, South Africa.
Now, Bristol Riverside Theatre comes through with a moving, intelligent staging of Hansberry’s oft-produced and always welcome masterpiece, “A Raisin in the Sun.”
All three shows and all three productions show the breadth of Lorraine Hansberry’s mind and her gift for expression. The conversations she creates and the ideas she explores entertain while smacking of authenticity, crackling with intelligence, and coming to the point of a situation, issue, or attitude.
Hearing Hansberry’s rich, vibrant dialogue makes one go back to time when attending the theater was described as “listening to a play.” One not only values Hansberry’s talent and perspicacity. One becomes nostalgic for plays structured so well with germane, stimulating lines and full-blooded, complex, ineluctably human characters.
The pity is Lorraine Hansberry died of cancer at age 34. The prospect of what this young, gifted, and Black artist may have achieved with a more typical lifespan is precious to behold.
Thank goodness we have the plays we do, including a musical version of “A Raisin in the Sun,” and theaters like Bristol Riverside that put Hansberry’s insight, humor, and truth on stage in such a first-class fashion.
Bristol director Lisa Strum went above and beyond her mission when she made her production unusual by forgoing the usual script for “A Raisin in the Sun” and using an alternative draft that includes an additional character and expands particularly on the relationship between Beneatha Younger, a college student interested in her family’s African culture, and Joseph Asagai, a young scholar visiting “Raisin’s” Chicago from Nigeria.
The expansion was more interesting than enlightening or necessary, but it showed that at any length, “A Raisin in the Sun” provides both an excellent view of family dynamics and a more realistic than usual look at a working class Black household in 1959.
“A Raisin in the Sun” is a far-reaching play, and Strum and her cast reveal every morsel of it with clarity, honesty, and humanity. From Patricia Floyd’s towering matriarch to Aasim Iqbal’s natural 10-year-old Travis, and from Dayo Olatokun’s noble Asagai to Tamara Anderson’s meddling neighbor, the production is marvelously cast and beautifully played.
Strum touches on personal and family nuances that give Hanberry’s work texture and individuality to go with its crisp dialogue and organically evolving plot. Her cast and designers capture the life and energy of the Younger family, struggling like most households but holding their own and taking care of their practical needs.
Ambitions, dreams, and emotional needs are a different story. Strum and company are as deft at defining and conveying them as they are at imparting Lorraine Hansberry’s perfect, realistic dialogue. Walter DeShields as Walter Lee Younger, Martine Fleurisma as his wife, Ruth, and Brittany Davis as his sister, Beneatha, never leave you in doubt about what they are thinking, feeling, and intuiting as they have their say and listen to others. Strum’s is a you-are-there production, and the more than three hours it takes for “A Raisin in the Sun” to unfold feels like half the time because the Bristol staging engages you every moment.
“A Raisin in the Sun” introduces audiences to three generations of the Younger family just as their lives are about to change. The patriarch, Walter Lee, Sr., has recently died, and every adult member of the family has designs on what to do with the generous life insurance payout they are about to receive.
Points of view and personal interest clash with possibly more universal needs. A lot happens in the few days the audience spends with the Youngers, but that time encapsulates hopes, joys, setbacks, and dilemmas, all of which are rooted in reality and all of which earn full attention.
The acting at Bristol renders “A Raisin in the Sun” as powerful as it can be. Other than a single cavil, this look at the Youngers, their dreams, their plight, and their choices is as complete and engrossing as a production can be.
Dreams are important to the play. The title comes from a Langston Hughes poem that asks, among other things, if a “dream deferred dries up like a raisin in the sun.”
Patricia Floyd provides a strong and sturdy foundation as Lena, the head of the Younger family. Floyd is as genuine as an actress can be. She looks more as if she’s living the part than playing it.
Floyd adroitly juxtaposes maternal instincts that understand what her children feel with the discipline to hold them to standards and say ‘no’ when she firmly disagrees. She radiates love, wisdom, and the pillar on which a family as ultimately as sensible as the Youngers is built.
In her program bio, Martine Fleurisma says her favorite of any character, and the one she’s always wanted to play, is Ruth Younger. At Bristol, Fleurisma does her dream and personal ambition justice, joining the ranks of Ruby Dee, Audra McDonald, Sophie Okonedo, and Ernestine Jackson in making Ruth one of the most sympathetic characters in theater history.
Just as Floyd finds all the facets of Lena, Fleurisma captures both the simplicity and ordinariness of Ruth while displaying her depth, decency, and determination.
Ruth is the Everyperson of “A Raisin in the Sun.” She is the person of small but fundamental desires she shares with most humankind. As heartbreaking as situations can be for other characters, it is Ruth we want to see have the few basics she longs for. It is her dream that becomes poignant, and Fleurisma makes you root mightily for Ruth to achieve it.
Walter DeShields is another who conveys the wide scope of his character, and Walter Lee Younger is a man who bursts with traits that run the gamut from wanting to be a good family man to wanting to be a mogul who has full control of his life and can leave something substantial to his children.
DeShields makes you feel for Walter even when he borders on the hurtful or appalling.
Brittany Davis portrays the passion, liveliness, modernity, and sarcasm of Beneatha with versatile aplomb. Always reliable Brandon J. Pierce comes through again as the pompous, dense suitor to Beneatha, while Dayo Olatokun exudes the gentle, confident dignity of Joseph Asagai. Another consistent stalwart, Tamara Anderson, is funny as the coarse, disapproving neighbor who comes to visit the Youngers on the day before they move from an apartment to a house. Aasim Iqbal is playful and realistic as Travis. Eric Carter shows the right combination of regret and desperation as a disappointing friend to Walter.
Peter Bisgaier does well as directed while playing a member of a Community Committee sent to dissuade the Youngers from moving to his area of Chicago. My cavil is Bisgaier’s Karl Lindner coming off as a caricature in comparison to the Youngers. I’d prefer a more subtle Micawberish approach.
Jason Simms does a fine job realizing the Youngers’ apartment. An interesting touch is a door that reflects the characters’ shadows. Jahise LeBouef’s costumes are spot-on. Cameron Filepas’ lighting keys in well with the moods of Lena Younger, who is looking for a whole lot of sunlight. Tamara Anderson adds spark to the production with the African, jazz, and basic dances she choreographed.
A Raisin in the Sun, Bristol Riverside Theatre, 120 Radcliffe Street, Bristol, Pennsylvania. Through Sunday, February 18, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday. $55 to $60. www.brtstage.org or 215-785-0100.
