Beneatha's Place Playtext

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by Kwame Kwei-Armah

Some things we do for those we are responsible for, some things for ourselves, and some things we do for the ancestors.
Today, it's all three!

1959. The first wave of independence is sweeping across Africa and Beneatha has left the prejudice of 1950s America for a brighter future with her Nigerian husband in Lagos. But on the day they move into their new house in the white suburbs, it doesn't take long for cracks to appear, changing the course of the rest of their lives.

Present day. Now a renowned Dean whose colleagues are questioning the role of African American studies for future generations, Beneatha returns to the same house in search of answers.

Inspired by Lorraine Hansberry's ground-breaking modern classic, A Raisin in the Sun, Beneatha's Place challenges today's culture wars about colonial history and reckoning with the past. A razor-sharp satire from Young Vic Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah, about the power of knowing your history and the cost of letting it go, this edition was published to coincide with the London premiere at the Young Vic Theatre, in June 2023.