Sweat

“It was back when if you worked with your hands people respected you for it.”

Set in Reading, Pennsylvania, in the early 2000s, Sweat follows a group of factory workers whose lives are closely tied to the local steel and manufacturing industries. Most nights, they meet in the same bar to drink, joke, argue and unwind after work.

When changes at the factory threaten jobs and long-standing friendships, tensions begin to rise. As some characters are offered opportunities that others are denied, questions of loyalty, race, class and resentment come to the surface.

Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play is a powerful portrait of a community under pressure, exploring what happens when secure work disappears and people are forced to confront how quickly their lives — and relationships — can change.

Co-Director Paula Robinson says: "What excites me about Sweat is the characters. These are people who have history with each other, who know how to make each other laugh, who have worked alongside one another for years, and who genuinely believe those relationships are solid. I’m excited by the challenge of making that sense of friendship feel completely real, so that when the pressure starts to build, the cracks really matter."

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Sweat plays at the Bridewell Theatre from 19-23 October 2027.

CONTENT WARNINGS:  strong language, racial slurs and racist language, xenophobia, references to addiction, alcohol use, economic hardship, and scenes of physical violence.

Sweat
By Lynn Nottage

This amateur production of Sweat is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals, Ltd. on behalf of Dramatists Play Service. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk

Co-commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle And Arena Stage

World premiere produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

This production of Sweat was first presented in New York by The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director)
Originally produced on Broadway by Stuart Thompson and Louise L. Gund.