Beneatha's Place

by Kwame Kwei-Armah, Jenny Stevens (Editor), Oladipo Agboluaje (Editor), Chris Megson (Editor), Matthew Nichols (Editor)

Overview

Alongside Bruce Norris's Clybourne Park, Beneatha's Place imagines a life for Lorraine Hansberry's characters from A Raisin in the Sun beyond the confines of her play.

Beneatha moves from 1950s America to Lagos with her Nigerian husband and then, in the second act, set in contemporary America, has become a college Dean of Social Sciences. Through this journey, Beneatha's Place challenges today's culture wars about colonial history and reckoning with the past.

This Student Edition, with an introduction and notes by Oladipo Agboluaje, offers a lens on the play's relationship to Hansberry's 1959 play and Clybourne Park; unpacks its engagement with the post-independence politics in Africa and pan-Africanism; considers how other plays to have dealt with these themes; and compares responses to the US and UK productions.

The edition includes original interviews with Kwame Kwei-Armah and actor Cherelle Skeete, who played the character of Beneatha in the UK premiere of the play.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350497726
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/24/2025
Series:	Student Editions
Pages:	120
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.75(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Kwame Kwei-Armah is British actor, playwright, director, singer and broadcaster. In 2018 he was made Artistic Director of the Young Vic Theatre, where he has directed Twelfth Night and Tree.

From 2011 to 2018 he was the Artistic Director of Baltimore Center Stage where his directing credits include: Jazz, Marley, One Night in Miami, Amadeus, and Dance of the Holy Ghosts.

As a playwright his credits include Tree (Manchester International Festival, Young Vic), One Love (Birmingham Repertory Theatre), Beneatha's Place (Baltimore Center Stage) Elmina's Kitchen, Fix Up, Statement of Regret (National Theatre) Let There Be Love and Seize the Day (Tricycle Theatre).

Kwame was an Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse and has served on the boards of the National Theatre, Tricycle Theatre, and Theatre Communications Group. He is Chair of the 2019 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, was Chancellor of the University of the Arts London from 2010 to 2015, and in 2012 was awarded an OBE for Services to Drama.

Jenny Stevens was an Associate Lecturer for the Open University and currently combines educational consultancy work with teaching and writing. She is the co-author with Pamela Bickley of Essential Shakespeare: The Arden Guide to Text and Interpretation (2013) and Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama: Text and Performance (2016).

Oladipo Agboluaje was born in London. He was educated in the UK and in Nigeria. He has written many stage and radio plays. He is the winner of the 2009 Alfred Fagon Award and is a recipient of the Peggy Ramsay Award.

Chris Megson is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has taught and published widely in the field of modern drama, and is editor of The Methuen Drama Book of Naturalist Plays. Other works include: Get Real: Documentary Theatre Past and Present (with Alison Forsyth, 2011), and Modern British Playwriting: The 70s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations (2012).

Matthew Nichols graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2003 and has been teaching and leading outstanding Drama and Performing Arts departments for over a decade. Matthew also has extensive experience at a senior level with several exam boards, and was responsible for writing one of the reformed GCSE qualifications in Drama. In addition, Matthew works with schools, colleges, universities and theatres across the country. Matthew is a successful and sought after Drama education consultant, and was one of the founders of Drama Defined, which specialises in delivering high quality Drama education courses to staff and students. Matthew is currently Head of Drama at Manchester Grammar School. You can reach him on Twitter @matthew_drama.

Table of Contents

Chronology

Contexts - historical & political (1950s America, post-independence politics in Africa, pan-Africanism; Black Lives Matter) and literary (Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun; Bruce Norris's Clybourne Park; Wole Soyinka's A Dance of Forests; and The Dilemma of a Ghost by Ama Ata Aidoo)

Themes (gender; race; decolonization; critical race theory; culture wars)

Language

Structure

Dramatic devices (lighting, sound, costume, scenography)

Play in production (critical responses, comparison of Baltimore and London productions)

Interviews (Kwame Kwei-Armah and Cherelle Skeete)

BENEATHA'S PLACE

Notes

Editorial Reviews

A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry's landmark 1959 play, ends with its most optimistic character considering leaving the US with her Nigerian suitor, finding identity in an independent Africa. In his drama, Kwame Kwei-Armah takes Beneatha ... to Lagos – only to find colonialism's enmeshed tentacles difficult to clear ... If Hansberry's play is about ownership – whether Black Americans have a stake in the American dream – then Kwei-Armah's concerns legacy: the persistent effects of colonialism and how Black thinkers can shape the future.” —Guardian

“Kwame Kwei-Armah's highly charged play about race and the ownership of history could scarcely feel more timely. Or be more of a challenging workout for its audience's presumptions and prejudices, whatever their skin colour.” —Evening Standard

From the Publisher