Les Blancs (The Whites)
by Lorraine Hansberry, Robert Nemiroff
What readers are saying
Readers are largely impressed with Les Blancs, describing it as a powerful and thought-provoking exploration of race and colonialism. Many highlight Lorraine Hansberry's brilliance and the complexity of the characters, feeling that the play is as relevant today as it was at the time of its writing. While some appreciate the depth and ambition of the play, a few mention that certain aspects felt over-explained or disconnected.
Synopsis
Best American play of 1970, Les Blancs prophetically confronts the hope and tragedy of Africa in revolution.
The setting is a white Christian mission in a colony about to explode.
The time is that hour of reckoning when no one the guilty nor the innocent can evade the consequences of white colonialism and imperatives of black liberation.
Tshembe Matoseh, the English educated son of a chief, has come home to bury his father.
He finds his teenage brother a near alcoholic and his older brother a priest and traitor to his people.
Forswearing politics and wanting only to return to his wife and child in England, Tshembe is drawn into the conflict symbolized by a woman dancer, the powerful Spirit of Africa who pursues him.
Press Reviews
"Possessed of the unrelenting power, breadth of vision and masterly technique that only a very few playwrights are capable of in any one generation."
— Detroit News
"Incredibly moving... towering, magnificent."
— The New York Times
Characters
| Character |
|---|
DR. MARTA GOTTERLING |
PETER |
CHARLIE MORRIS |
DR. WILLY DEKOVEN |
MAJOR GEORGE RICE |
MADAME NIELSEN |
ERIC |
TSHEMBE MATOSEH |
ABIOSEH MATOSEH |
NGAGO |
THE WOMAN |
DRUMMERS |
AFRICAN VILLAGERS (AND WARRIORS) |
AFRICAN CHILD |
SOLDIERS |
PRISONER |
Publication
Les Blancs (The Whites) is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry and published by Samuel French (1972).
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