Sweat

Power over people is the strong message which this Pulitzer Prize winner spells out in the emotionally charged play Sweat.

It is first class, from the fabulously creative set to the strong acting and punchy storyline and runs at The Lyceum in Edinburgh until 13^th June 2026.

First shown in 2015, the play, by Lynn Nottage, is based in a small industrial town in Pennsylvania between 2000 and 2008 and where the main employer is a steel factory.

The workforce is tight, many generations of the same family spending their whole lives working for the same employer and the play centres on three pals, Cynthia (Debbie Korley), Tracey (Lucianne McEvoy) and Jessie (Laura Cairns), with Cynthia’s son Chris (Rudolphe Mdlongwa) and Jason (Lewis MacDougall), Tracey’s son also employed at the mill.

Their close friendship means many nights meeting in the local pub and the story unfolds as they play out their daily problems in front of ex-factory worker turned bartender Stan (Christopher Middleton) and his helper of Colombian descent, Oscar. (Manuel Pacific).

Throw in the stress of a work related breakdown from Cynthia’s ex-husband Brucie (Mark Theodore) and the play is a bubbling pot of tension which explodes when Cynthia is promoted, and the factory owners start to streamline the workforce and pit them against each other. Violence erupts and ends in tragedy and jail for Chris and Jason, with Ako Mitchell completing the cast as parole officer Evan.

Mix in sour friendships with different backgrounds and race, and the play is a deeply sad look at how things can change so quickly when people are pitted against each other.

Director Joanna Bowman has done a splendid job of turning an intense storyline into a highly entertaining and watchable play.

And Francis O’Connor is also to be applauded for her brilliant set which centres on a huge factory which is quickly transformed into an American bar, with evocative lighting from Derek Anderson and sounds from Patricia Panther.

Fight director Emma Claire Brightlyn and movement director Jack Webb along with dialect coach Aundrea Fudge and casting director Annelie Powell match the cast for their expertise in bringing Pennsylvania to Scotland and the show is a first class piece of theatre, not to be missed.

Sweat is at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh until 13^th June 2026. For ticket availability please visit: www.lyceum.org.uk.

Author Bio:

Rebecca Hay is an experienced travel writer and member of The British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures with her family on Twitter and Instagram @emojiadventurer and on Facebook via EmojiAdventurers2.

Photographs by Mihaela Bodlovic