Lynn Nottage’s 2015 play was expertly brought to life at Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, leaving me haunted by the raw emotions and violence in the performance. Set in Reading, Pennsylvania in the 2000s, it centres on a community woven together and torn apart by the Olstead steel factory in the wake of mass layoffs, increasing poverty and everyday hardships.
Playing on themes surrounding love, loyalty, race and class, this performance grounded itself in 2000s America in the wake of 9/11, the Bush administration and the decline of factory-based economies. However, economic decline and disempowerment are of course issues that people are facing today: the performance felt reactive to current fears, including the human cost of relocating industries, communities brought together by hardship and the role of trade unions.
Set almost exclusively in a town bar, but with the factory haunting the entire narrative, audiences are left with the sense that the steelworks have an omnipresent nature in every part of life in Reading: even when characters are ‘off the clock’, the factory-inspired metal pipes and fences are woven into the set. This was brought to life when those who are made jobless bang on the fences (almost like cages). Set, in a country so famed for mass incarceration, Joanna Bowman’s directing once again made the performance feel relevant for 2026.
I particularly enjoyed the role of friendship throughout the performance. The performance opened with former best friends Chris (Rudolphe Mdlongwa) and Jason (Lewis MacDougall) reeling after seeing each other for the first time since leaving prison. What is later revealed, however, is that the two have grown up inseparable. Loyalty was particularly highlighted through a 25-year strong friendship between their mothers, Cynthia (Debbie Korley) and Tracey (Lucianne McEvoy). They both gave spectacular performances in which ideas around race, belonging, and what we owe our friends were constant themes.
The ending (in which many frequenters of the bar reunite) was a touch saccharine, wanting to create a sense of completion which didn’t quite fit with the sense of moving on which Nottage’s text seemed to inspire. However, this was an incredibly moving performance, leaving me with much intrigue — from life in 2000s rural Pennsylvania to what the loss of pride does to communities. I would recommend this drama in a heartbeat.
Production images by Mihaela Bodlovic courtesy of Citizens Theatre