Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun is the best thing the Royal Exchange has put on in ages. 

Three generations of the Younger family are cramped into the shabby rented rooms on Chicago’s Southside which god-fearing matriarch, Lena, first moved into as a new bride full of hopes and dreams. 

But Lena’s husband worked himself into an early grave, and although her son Walter fantasises about making a quick buck by investing in a series of shady schemes, and her daughter Beneatha bubbles with exciting ideals and ambitions, reality means that Lena and her daughter-in-law Ruth are skivvying for rich white people and her grandson has to sleep on the sofa.

However the imminent arrival of a cheque for $10,000 - the life insurance on Lena’s late husband - could transform all their lives.

Superficially A Raisin in the Sun appears to be staple Royal Exchange fare like Wesker’s Roots or Osborne’s The Entertainer, a naturalistic drama from exactly the same era which tells its tale via a highly detailed depiction of domestic life: the opening blow-by-blow account of the Youngers’ early morning routine, down to breakfast being cooked live on stage, leads one to expect nothing more.

But this poor, black family’s frames of reference aren’t provincial and miniaturist but global and historical: Lena traces her ancestors back six generations to when they were brought to America as slaves, and sees her own life as part of their progression; aspiring medical student Beneatha looks both backwards and forwards when she becomes fascinated by African culture.  The gender politics are intriguing, too.  Has Walter been emasculated by his nagging wife and infantilised by his all-powerful mother?  Are Beneatha’s hopes realistic, or should she settle down with a man who isn’t her intellectual equal but who can offer material security?  The story becomes increasingly powerful and moving, culminating in a nail-biting choice for one of the characters that will materially and morally affect them all.  And Lorraine Hansberry’s writing has a fundamental optimism and belief in a better future which is absent from her English contemporaries.

The whole cast is excellent, down to the smallest cameo.  Ray Fearon’s ne’er-do-well Walter is charming and sulky, and Tracy Ifeachor as his student sister is sassy, sophisticated and shy by turns.  Starletta DuPois plays the magnificently upholstered matriarch Lena with authority, while Jenny Jules as Ruth quietly conveys the loneliness of a disappointed wife trying to hold things together.

Director Michael Buffong has given this great play a fantastic production that entertains and emotionally engages throughout.  The whole experience is so uplifting that it’s little wonder some members of the audience were on their feet at the end.

A Raisin in the Sun is on until Saturday 20 February 2010

Prices: £8.50-£29.50

Evenings: Mon-Sat @ 7.30

Matinees: Wed & Sat @ 2.30

Box Office: 0161 833 9833

www.royalexchange.co.uk