American classic premiers in Sweden

Set during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s, "A Raisin in the Sun” remains current and accessible, even in 21st century Sweden. 

  • Cover of the first edition of "The Raisin in the Sun," 1959.
  • American author Lorraine Hansberry was just 26 years old when she wrote "A Raisin in the Sun." It premiered in New York in 1959, marking the first Broadway play written by an African American woman.

    Since then — many years, awards and productions later — the play still resonates with many audiences. Set at the start of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s, it focuses on a black family who dreams of a better life but encounters the harsh realities of American racism.

  • Original Broadway cast with Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee.
  • Now "A Raisin in the Sun” (En druva i solen) is coming to Sweden, in Swedish. It will be the first time a play features an all-black cast in Sweden. And it comes, director Josette Bushell-Mingo believes, at a pivotal time when black Swedes are more likely than any other minority in the country to be victims of racist attacks. An estimated 180,000 black Swedes currently live in Sweden, and Bushell-Mingo draws parallels between the experiences of the play's family in segregated 1950s Chicago, its psychological consequences and the experiences of many black Swedes today. "Many of our actors and actresses went through a personal journey of self-discovery and reckoning with their reality as black Swedes," she said.

  • A Swedish cast performs the acclaimed Broadway classic "En druva i solen" (A Raisin in the Sun ) by Lorraine Hansberry. Photo by Swedenabroad.com
  • En druva i solen’s Nordic premiere is on February 5, 2016 at the National Theatre in Gothenburg. It will tour Sweden through May 3. http://riksteatern.se