Meet the first cast members and full creative team for our fresh new staging of A Raisin in the Sun.

We’re joining forces with leading theatre companies Headlong, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Nottingham Playhouse for this exciting new staging that opens in our Courtyard Theatre from 13-28 September ahead of a UK tour visiting Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse and Oxford Playhouse.

Joséphine-Fransilja Brookman (High Times and Dirty Monsters, A Pigment of Your Imagination, Macbeth) will play Beneatha, Cash Holland (A Streetcar Named Desire, Odyssey, Julius Caesar) will play Ruth, Solomon Israel (Jitney, The Barber Shop Chronicles, Miss Littlewood) will play Walter Lee and Jonah Russell (Arms and the Man, I, Joan, The Brilliant Friend) will play Karl.

Further casting will be announced soon, including local children who will alternate the role of Travis.

Joining Director Tinuke Craig (Trouble in Butetown, Jitney, Crave, The Color Purple) on the creative team are Cécile Trémolières (Set Designer), Maybelle Laye (Costume Designer), Max Pappenheim (Composer & Sound Designer), Joshua Pharo (Lighting Designer), Sarita Piotrowski (Movement Director), Haruka Kuroda (Fight & Intimacy Director), Aundrea Fudge (Voice & Dialect Coach), Phillippe Cato (Associate Director), Ruta Irbite (Design Associate), Luke Haywood (Lighting Associate), Lotte Hines (Casting Director) and Joi Gresham (Literary Trustee).

Groundbreaking, pioneering and challenging, Lorraine Hansberry‘s A Raisin in the Sun broke barriers as the first play by a Black woman on Broadway. This classic play remains relevant and powerful in a world still divided by inequality.

Director Tinuke Craig said: “It’s 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. 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.” 

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?