Hansberry, Lorraine - Clive Barnes

CLIVE BARNES

["The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window"] is a play about idealism, liberalism and not selling-out, and it is written in something of the declamatory manner of the thirties, although its theme is strictly about the sixties….

The strength of Miss Hansberry was in her remarkable ability to write strong theatrical scenes. There are three or four scenes here that in themselves represent some of the best Broadway writing of the last few years.

Miss Hansberry is a master at the dramatic confrontation—the savage and surprising impact of people upon one another, and when the mood has taken her the writing has genuine quality….

There is no doubt in my mind that the individual scenes are better than the play itself, and that the characters are more interesting than the themes of disillusion and bitterness. But these themes … are I think strong enough.

The picture of a weak man trying to kid himself about the society he lives in...

[The entire page is 225 words long]

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