
Sweat
4.5 (13) · New Writing
In 2011, Lynn Nottage began spending time with the people of Reading, Pennsylvania: officially one of the poorest cities in the USA.
Overview
During the following two years, she dug deep into the forgotten heart of middle America, finding a city divided by racial tension and the collapse of industry.
Sweat is the Pulitzer Prize-winning play that Lynn Nottage wrote following her experience.
Her tale of friends pitted against each other by big business, and the decline of the American Dream receives its UK premiere at the Donmar, directed by former Donmar Resident Assistant Director Lynette Linton.
Critic reviews
Donmar bring late treat with outstanding drama of town's decline
It is a profound cry of agony and insight on behalf of the dispossessed and as strong a Christmas message as you could possibly wish for
Lynette Linton directs an assured production of Lynn Nottage's nuanced and moving study of a town in decline
I can’t think of any recent play that tells us so much, and so vividly, about the state of the union
Lynn Nottage’s devastating account of American industrial decline is a masterpiece
Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winner emerges even more strongly in London
Lynn Nottage’s magnificent play at the Donmar Warehouse shows the personal cost of geopolitical shifts
A knock-out blow of theatrical force
Over the two hours and eight years of the play, a knife is pushed slowly, steadily, methodically into the hearts of the residents and workers of Reading. A bomb has been sitting in the middle of the stage, in the middle of this country this whole time and we’re still shocked when it explodes