Clybourne Park (West End)

Select a Date

Date	Time	Venue	Notes	Prices	Booking Link
Available Performances
Dates in January
Fri 28 Jan 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 29 Jan 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 31 Jan 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Dates in February
Tue 1 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 2 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 3 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 4 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 5 Feb 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 5 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 7 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Tue 8 Feb 2011	7:00pm	Press Night	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA
Wed 9 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 10 Feb 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 10 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 11 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 12 Feb 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 12 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 14 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Tue 15 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 16 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 17 Feb 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 17 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 18 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 19 Feb 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 19 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 21 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Tue 22 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 23 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 24 Feb 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 24 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 25 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 26 Feb 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 26 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 28 Feb 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Dates in March
Tue 1 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 2 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 3 Mar 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 3 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 4 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 5 Mar 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 5 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 7 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Tue 8 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 9 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 10 Mar 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 10 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 11 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 12 Mar 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 12 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 14 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Tue 15 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 16 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 17 Mar 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 17 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 18 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 19 Mar 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 19 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 21 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Tue 22 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 23 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 24 Mar 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 24 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 25 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 26 Mar 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 26 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 28 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Tue 29 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 30 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 31 Mar 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 31 Mar 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Dates in April
Fri 1 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 2 Apr 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 2 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 4 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Tue 5 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 6 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 7 Apr 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 7 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 8 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 9 Apr 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 9 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 11 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Tue 12 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 13 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 14 Apr 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 14 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 15 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 16 Apr 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 16 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 18 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Tue 19 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 20 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 21 Apr 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 21 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 22 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 23 Apr 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 23 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Mon 25 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Tue 26 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 27 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 28 Apr 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 28 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 29 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 30 Apr 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 30 Apr 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Dates in May
Mon 2 May 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Tue 3 May 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Wed 4 May 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 5 May 2011	2:30pm	Mid-Week Matinee	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Thu 5 May 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Fri 6 May 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 7 May 2011	2:30pm	Saturday Matinees	Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sat 7 May 2011	7:30pm		Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road WC2H 0DA	£50.40, £40.50, £30.50, £20.50, £85.00
Sold out Performances

Reviews

5 stars Paul Taylor, The Independent, Thursday 10th February 2011

Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park, which opened at the Royal Court last September, has been devouring all the Best New Play awards. Moving neighbourhood with more ease than any of its characters, it now takes up residency in the West End. For once, when applied to this mercilessly acute look at the minefield of race in relation to property and language, the term “excruciatingly funny” is not critic-speak for “above-averagely amusing”.

It concerns a dispute over the same Chicago house – first in 1959, when the locals try to pressure a departing couple to pull out of selling to a black family; then a jump to 2009, when the neighbourhood is predominantly black, and an incoming white couple find their plans to raze and rebuild questioned by an historically minded residents’ association. The conception is as theatrically powerful as it is thematically penetrating, especially when – as in Dominic Cooke’s superlative production – the same crack actors resurface in the different roles in later period heightening the distorted diptych effect.

An uneasy situation spirals out of control hilariously and harrowingly in both halves – with a woman desperately trying to hold things together. Norris is very good on the wacky irrationality of racism. There’s a ghastly Fifties Rotarian who asks to be shown where the black skiers are, as though the sport were a perfectly free matter of preference. There’s a liberal present-day female who can’t see that there is anything inherently tactless and untrustworthy about claiming that “half my friends” are black. There is a climactic stand-off, provoked by a white man, to see who can crack the most breathtakingly tasteless joke against the other race.

And underlying it all is the suicide in the house of a Korean vet that shows up other cracks in American society. Sophie Thompson tears your heart as his surviving manically cheerful mother, but then all the acting is out of this world. Essential.

5 stars Charles Spencer, The Telegraph, Wednesday 9th February 2011

Hilarious tour de force of provocation

I raved over Bruce Norris’s drama about property and racial tensions in America when it opened at the Royal Court last summer and it has already won several major awards. The good news is that Clybourne Park seems every bit as intelligent, funny and provocative on second viewing, and this welcome West End transfer proves a thrilling shot in the arm for London’s commercial theatre.

The first thing to be said is that the play is often outrageously funny as it tramples over politically correct pieties, revealing that racism is still a live issue in the States, even though most middle-class whites prefer to forget the fact. But the piece also has emotional depth, particularly in the first half, in which nervy comedy is mixed with festering pain.

In Act 1, set in 1959, a grieving couple are planning to sell their home in a white Chicago suburb. Their son committed suicide in the house, after going off the rails during the Korean War, and they are desperate to get out. But they are selling to a black couple and the weasel-like leader of the residents’ association (Stephen Campbell Moore) comes to tell them that the sale will lower property values and be the beginning of the end for the neighbourhood. What makes this all the more excruciating is that the conversation among the white characters is overheard by a black maid and her husband.

We then move on to 2009. Clybourne Park is now predominantly black, and after suffering serious social problems is on its way up again. So much so that a white couple want to buy the now derelict house of the first act, pull it down and build a grander establishment. The trouble is that the leaders of the now black residents’ committee aren’t impressed by their plans.

Norris’s point is that though his 21st-century characters spout PC platitudes, racial prejudice still lurks just beneath the surface in modern America among both blacks and whites. This is encapsulated in a scene in which the white property buyer and a black woman on the residents’ association trade increasingly outrageous racist jokes as if fighting a duel. It sets the audience on a roar of laughter and disbelief and is one of the most astonishing scenes in recent theatre.

Dominic Cooke directs a beautifully judged production that captures the play’s depth as well as its surface dazzle with an outstanding company performing different roles in each half. Sophie Thompson takes the palm, first as the neurotic bereaved mother, before offering a wonderful comic turn as a deeply irritating lawyer in Act 2. There is outstanding work, too, from Stuart McQuarrie as the angry grieving father, Lorna Brown as the superbly poised deliverer of jokes against the whites, and Sam Spruell as a smarmily ineffective clergyman.

But there isn’t a dud performance in this firecracker of a play, which negotiates dangerous dramatic territory with provocative panache. 4 stars Lyn Gardner, The Guardian, Thursday10th February 2011

Provocative mix of race and property lobs a grenade at audiences

There are few more enjoyable sights than watching liberal hypocrisy being given a good thrashing, and Bruce Norris’s Royal Court transfer arrives in the West End with such a combustible mix of race, territory and property prices that it is like a hand grenade lobbed into the stalls, primed to explode in the second act.

Those who do not want to know why a white woman is like a tampon or the one about the white man and the black man in a prison cell, may not wish to return after the interval. Those who do will be in for one of the most offensively delicious skewerings of the resentments and real feelings that lurk behind the euphemisms and politically correct rhetoric of racial discourse ever to erupt on a stage. It’s like watching a boil being lanced. Along with the rest of the audience, I squirmed like a worm on a hook.

In fact, things begin lethargically in what seems like a cosy American, Ayckbourn-style comedy. It’s 1959 and after a family tragedy, unhappy Bev (Sophie Thompson) and Russ (Stuart McQuarrie) are moving out of their Chicago neighbourhood – the same one aspired to by the black Younger family in Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 classic, A Raisin in the Sun. The knock-down price means that a black family will be moving in, much to the disquiet of resident Carl (Stephen Campbell Moore), who pops round to tell Bev and Russ – in front of the black maid Francine (Lorna Brown) – that they are undermining property values.

Fast forward 50 years and a young white couple, Lindsey (Sarah Goldberg) and Steve (Campbell Moore again) want to build a new house on the same plot, but face hostility from the all-black residents’ committee who are concerned that white newcomers will erase the cultural significance of the area. Is the whiplash-tongued Lena (Brown again) all that different from Carl, even as she provokes Lindsey and Steve to convict themselves out of their own mouths. The play builds from skirmishes to all-out war, in which words prove as lethal and destructive as any gun.

This is a courageous play for the West End, and it wouldn’t be possible if Dominic Cooke’s production wasn’t so perfectly pitched and the performances so spot on. Most of the cast double, and Thompson, in particular, is irresistible as the 1950s housewife, a suitable case for the Betty Friedan treatment, and later as a lawyer entirely ignorant of the world beyond the end of her nose.

Norris’s elegantly structured play nails marital tensions as much as it does racial disharmony in an evening of ebullient provocation.

4 stars Dominic Maxwell, The Times, Wednesday 9th February 2011

Saying the unsayable proves nothing’s black and white

This play’s arrival in the West End is preceded by its reputation as one that ruffles every feather in the coop. And sure enough, Bruce Norris’s black comedy, bolstered this week by four Olivier nominations from its run last autumn at the Royal Court, has the power to amuse, amaze and appal, sometimes in the same breath.

But though its second act devolves into a delicious ding-dong, in which the unsayable gets said in style, this is a subtle and empathetic play that traces its taboos back half a century.

In the fictional Chicago suburb of Clybourne Park in 1959, Bev and Russ are preparing to move home after the suicide of their son. But there’s a problem — for the local residents’ association, anyway.

Taking his cue from Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun (1959), in which a white man urges a black family not to move into a suburban area, Norris uses the same character, Karl Lindner, to urge Bev and Russ not to sell their house to black buyers. A lesser play would invite us merely to decry the casual racism of the era and declare ourselves above it. But Norris is after bigger game here.

The second act jumps to the same home in 2009, where the new owners are up against a residents’ delegation headed by a black couple. “The history of America is the history of private property,” says Steve, a white man whose building plans theaten the character of the neighbourhood.

So here’s the nub: we all agree that we should love thy neighbour, but what if thy neighbour threatens the value of thy property? After a slow-building first act, the second recasts the characters as their biological or thematic descendants. The dialogue dazzles as they settle into a meeting in which everyone has a darn fine ear for their own sensitivities, a tin one for anyone else’s.

Norris airs arguments rather than resolves them. But the fractured structure leads to something hilarious and horribly lifelike. And Dominic Cooke’s production moves from tragedy to high comedy without missing a beat.

Sophie Thompson is wondrous as the frantic Fifties housewife Bev, but everyone impresses. Stuart McQuarrie is a masterclass in repressed rage as Russ, Sarah Goldberg is unforgettable as the white woman claiming that “half of my friends are black” to the derision of Stephen Campbell Moore as her husband Steve. Lucian Msamati is a wonderfully wry presence in both acts, while Lorna Brown gets the laugh and the gasp of the night with a joke about white women that shows that racism can provide equal opportunities.

The laughs are never cheap because Norris doesn’t generalise. He shows that we all have our agendas, including but not confined to race and class. So it’s serious stuff. And a lot of fun too. 4 stars Veronica Lee, Evening Standard, Wednesday 9th February 2011

Strain to love thy neighbour in Clybourne Park

Bruce Norris’s controversial and scabrously funny study of liberal pieties through the prism of racism in modern-day America, which won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play, has lost nothing in its transfer from the Royal Court to the West End – and indeed has gained four Laurence Olivier award nominations en route.

The first act is set in 1959 when a black family buy a house in a white Chicago suburb. The vendors – who have a black maid, by turns patronised or ignored – are moving because their son, who served in Korea, committed suicide in the house. Their neighbour Karl, Stephen Campbell Moore, replacing Martin Freeman in the role, objects to the sale and, despite his weasel words about this being a “progressive community”, is a nasty racist.

After the interval Norris reverses the story and all the actors take on different roles as the action is updated to 2009. Clybourne Park is now a black neighbourhood and a white couple are trying to buy the same house. Steve and Lindsey want to “improve” the property but, lawyer in tow, have to negotiate with Lena from the residents’ association, who regards her smug new neighbours with increasing disdain; but do her objections concern their architectural tastes or their race? Norris puts some shockingly funny words into his characters’ mouths as they trade first barbs, then racist jokes.

Dominic Cooke’s superb production neatly teases out all the subtleties in Norris’s well-constructed play, which is both a touching evocation of grief and a sharp satire about hypocrisy. The performances are terrific, with particular mention of Sophie Thompson’s Fifties housewife and modern lawyer who loves travel but remains doggedly ignorant of other cultures, Lorna Brown as the maid and passive/aggressive Lena, and Campbell Moore as Karl and the simmeringly resentful Steve.