Clybourne Park Is An Excoriating Look At American Attitudes To Race
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Last Updated 24 March 2022
“What do white women and tampons have in common?” If you’re not prepared to hear the spectacularly rude answer to that question, this revival of one of the very finest plays of the last century is possibly not for you.
Winner of an Olivier, a Tony and a Pulitzer (for its author Bruce Norris), Clybourne Park is an excoriating look at American attitudes to race and community. It is set in the 1959 and (later) 2009, but it is even more relevant now than when it first came out over a decade ago.
My review from the a decade ago still holds true: this is a shocking, and shockingly good, play which brutally examines the underlying nature of the USA (“the history of America is the history of private property”) and how it treats its citizens (“how can the majority of people be marginalised?”).
Since then, Clybourne Park’s focus on cancel culture, the effects of isolation from a community and the deleterious impact of mental health on individuals and their family have proved to be prescient. Throw in some great performances from this ensemble cast and this play is nigh-on unmissable.
Clybourne Park, Park Theatre. Tickets from £30, until 23 April 2022.
