The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window cover art

The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window

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About this listen

Fresh off the success of her groundbreaking first play, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window tells the tragicomic story of a young bohemian couple in New York's Greenwich Village, struggling to do what's right in a world that rewards everything that's wrong. Sidney is a dreamer who wants his own Walden Pond; Iris is a budding actress whose own backstory is a performance. They're caught in a moment where, "the world is about to crack right down the middle," as the play deftly tackles racism, sexism, antisemitism, homophobia, liberal complacency, and more. A 2023 Tony Award Nominee for Best Revival, Rachel Brosnahan and Oscar Isaac lead a stellar cast, bringing wit and humor to characters and issues that are as relevant today as they were in the turbulent 1960s.

©1964 Lorraine Hansberry (P)2024 AO Media, LLC Drama & Plays Entertainment & Performing Arts United States World Literature Witty
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Only after hearing this play performed and then learned that it was the product of the 1960s did this Audible Original begin to make sense - the confrontation, anger and shouting, domestic intolerance, larger than life but insecure characters, the apparent abhorrence of and superiority towards almost anyone of other values whilst still in denial of their own loser views of the world. Such angry production was a feature of that time. Fine words but little subtlety. The cast would almost certainly have been more easily praised if seen on stage, the play carrying a better conviction of reality. As it was, there were moments of confusion although the inclusion of approximately themed music certainly helped hold it all together as well as marking the passage of time. On a personal note, I have to confess that the actor playing Sidney''s sister had such a silly little girl whiney voice that I found it hard to hear her, unfortunate as she was very central to the message (I think).

A good play to see in the theatre but, without a script to follow, not an easy listen only. Sad, too, with use of words now essentially banned from our vocabulary, it is still a powerful piece

" All the real prostitutes are everybody else. "

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A severely underrated play. Issac and Brosnahan are excellent together. Handberry has this way of creating beautifully textured worlds that dig down to people's souls.

beautifully textures world, I got excited everytime these two leads were alone.

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