Pioneering theatre company, Headlong have today released full casting and creatives for their fresh new staging of A Raisin in the Sun by director Tinuke Craig (Trouble in Butetown, Jitney, Crave, The Color Purple).
Gilbert Kyem Jnr will play George (The Milkmans Purpose, Love Speech), Kenneth Omole (Top Boy, Macbeth, Barbershop Chronicles) will play Joseph/Bobo and Doreene Blackstock (Sex Education, Unknown Rivers) will play Lena. The role of Travis will be performed by Jayden Dias, Josh Ndlovu and Adiel Magaji in Leeds and Oxford, and by Jeriah Kibusi and Oliver Dunkley in London and Nottingham.
They join the previously announced Joséphine-Fransilja Brookman (High Times and Dirty Monsters, A Pigment of Your Imagination, Macbeth ) who will play Beneatha, Cash Holland (A Streetcar Named Desire, Odyssey, Julius Caesar ) who will play Ruth, Solomon Israel (Jitney, The Barber Shop Chronicles, Miss Littlewood) who will play Walter Lee and Jonah Russell (Arms and the Man, I, Joan, The Brilliant Friend) who will play Karl.
Ahead of the premiere at Leeds Playhouse (13-28 Sep), brand new imagery and videography has also been released. The production then goes on to play at Oxford Playhouse (2-5 Oct), Lyric Hammersmith Theatre (8 Oct – 2 Nov) and Nottingham Playhouse (5-16 Nov).
The full creative team are Tinuke Craig (Director), Cécile Trémolières (Set Designer) Maybelle Laye (Costume Designer), Dominique Hamilton (Wigs, Hair & Make up Designer) Max Pappenheim (Composer & Sound Designer), Joshua Pharo (Lighting Designer), Sarita Piotrowski (Movement Director), Haruka Kuroda (Fight & Intimacy Director), Aundrea Fudge (Voice & Dialect Coach), Phillipe Cato (Associate Director), Ruta Irbite (Design Associate), Luke Haywood (Lighting Associate), Lotte Hines (Casting Director) and Joi Gresham (Literary Trustee).
A Raisin in the Sun is a Headlong, Leeds Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Nottingham Playhouse co-production.
Groundbreaking and challenging, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun broke barriers as the first play by a Black woman on Broadway. This classic family drama full of humour and heart remains relevant and powerful in a world still divided by inequality.
In a rented apartment on Chicago’s South Side, the Younger family is full of hope, dreams, grief, and big plans. Their beloved father has died, and the money from his life insurance policy could change their lives. Mama wants to put down roots in a home of her own. Her daughter Beneatha has her heart set on becoming a doctor. But her son Walter Lee thinks the money is his to spend — and he’s willing to sacrifice his values and his family to get what he wants. Each must face what it means to escape the confines of a segregated society. How do you create a meaningful life in a world designed to keep you down?
Director Tinuke Craig said: “It is a privilege to once again work alongside the creative powerhouse that is Headlong in their 50th year after collaborating on Jitney in 2021 whilst continuing my ongoing Artistic Associate role with Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. Now, the time is right to bring Lorraine Hansberry’s classic A Raisin in the Sun back to the stage in a relevant, fresh new production for today.”
For more information on Headlong at 50 visit headlong.co.uk.
