About the Play:

Sweat has become a favourite of acting teachers for Female Monologues.

Sweat is a full-length drama by Lynn Nottage. A group of friends have spent their lives working together on the factory lines. When rumours of layoffs begin to stir, rifts form, chipping away at their trust and pitting them against each other. Filled with warm humour and tremendous heart, Sweat is inspired by the stories of America's Rust Belt working class.

Sweat tells the story of a group of factory co-workers and friends who struggle to reclaim what has been lost following America's industrial decline. They have spent their lives sharing drinks, secrets, and laughs at the local bar while working together on the factory floor in one of the poorest cities in America – Reading, Pennsylvania – where the author spent two and a half years interviewing residents. When layoffs and picket lines begin to chip away at their trust, the lifelong friends find themselves pitted against each other by big business in a heart-wrenching struggle to stay ahead. The changes are followed by a horrific crime, which shocks the declining union town. Sweat is a powerful examination of a community that is formed and dissolved amidst the changing landscape of America.

Sweat premiered in 2015 at the internationally acclaimed Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon and subsequently played an acclaimed run in Washington, D.C. at Arena Stage in 2016. The play opened on Broadway at Studio 54 in 2017 following an acclaimed and sold-out Off-Broadway engagement at the Public Theater that was extended three times and won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It received its UK premiere in 2018 at the Donmar Warehouse in London and went on to win Best Play at the 2019 Evening Standard Theatre Awards. It subsequently toured widely throughout US regional theatres and has been mounted by high schools, colleges, and community theatres.

Cast: 3 female, 6 male

What people say:

"Keenly observed and often surprisingly funny – but ultimately heartbreaking – the work traces the roots of a tragedy with both forensic psychological detail and embracing compassion. Ms. Nottage…is writing at the peak of her powers…." — New York Times

"…passionate and necessary… a masterful depiction of the forces that divide and conquer us… Sweat communicates its points with minimal fuss and maximum grit. Along with the rage, despair and violence, there's humor and abundant humanity… a cautionary tale of what happens when you don't know how to resist." — Time Out New York

"Sharp and threatening as a box cutter blade… ferociously engrossing… Sweat never feels less than authentic – and crucial." — Deadline.com

"A tough yet empathetic portrait of the America that came undone." — The New Yorker

"Lynn Nottage's devastating account of American industrial decline is a masterpiece... empathy radiates from every word; Nottage's own sweat has paid off in what is emphatically one of the great American plays." — Time Out London

"Magnificent… does what drama at its very best can do – it tells the story of our times through one tight-knit and vividly drawn group of people… it's funny, angry and immensely sad, making a profound plea for those who have been chewed up and spat out by geopolitical forces beyond their control… a humane, heartbreaking and necessary play." — Financial Times (London)

About the Playwright:

Lynn Nottage is an African-American playwright and screenwriter whose work often deals with the lives of African Americans and women. She is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, and is also an Associate Professor in the Theatre Department at Columbia School of the Arts. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Ruined and for Sweat, making her the first woman to win the prestigious award twice.