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Prize-Winning Sweat! (Your News)

Prize-Winning Sweat! (Your News)

By Paul Johnson

Play of the Year at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2019 to be performed by non-professional company in February 2020

Lynn Nottage’s razor-sharp play has just scooped the title of Play of the Year at this year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards held in November at the London Coliseum.

Sweat first appeared at the Donmar Warehouse in December 2018 before transfering to the West End for a run at the Gielgud Theatre last summer.

Set in 2000 & 2008 in the Rust Belt US town of Reading, Pennsylvania, Sweat explores the impact of unwanted but inevitable economic and political turmoil on the lives of a diverse group of steel workers. Lay-offs and picket lines tear apart enduring friendships and family ties as the shocking global financial crisis takes shape and gathers momentum.

The big non-professional news is that there’ll be a production of Sweat at Tower Theatre in Stoke Newington from 26 Feb to 7 March 2020.

Written by African-American author, Lynn Nottage, one of today’s finest playwrights, Sweat promises a special resonance in the year that Donald Trump seeks re-election, plus there are strong echoes of the aftermath of de-industrialisation in the UK in recent decades. The intensity of the relationships and fast-paced dialogue are particularly well-suited to Tower Theatre’s intimate space.

Described in The Observer review as “the year’s most powerful play” when it completed its fifty-date highly successful West End run, Sweat also earned Nottage a second Pulitzer Prize in 2017.

The Tower production will be directed by Ian Hoare and feature a cast including:
Peta Barker,
Richard Bobb-Semple, Isaiah Bobb-Semple, Matthew Vicker,
Carlos Fain-Binda,
Anna Dimdore,
Landé Belo,
Katie Smith.
www.towertheatre.org/uk

Tower Theatre, 16 Northwold Road, Stoke Newington, London N16 7HR.
26 February to 7 March 2020.
Suitable for ages 12+. Tickets are £12 in advance or £14 on the door.

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