Sweat

The director of Sweat is Lynn Nottage, a Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter and playwright, who is well known for her portrayal of the marginalized and neglected parts of society while backing it up with substantial research. Spending more than 2 years interviewing the occupants of a town named Reading Pennsylvania, which has the highest percentage of residents below the poverty line, Nottage was able to understand the economic instability that shook the little town of Reading. The play went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2017.

A sellout success at the Donmar Theatre, Sweat has been critically acclaimed for its portrayal of the effect of industrialization and automation on the livelihood of people. Going into the very heart of the working class population of the United States, the play partially explains the result of the 2016 United States presidential election. Discover the mindset of the occupants of the region and the shift in their relationships with each other as a result of industrialization unraveling their lives.

The story begins with three friends sitting in a local bar. As they discuss various topics, the dynamics of the town are seen. The story shifts to a series of events that had occurred eight years earlier, and the life of the working class people. Promotions, pay cuts, and strikes are discussed, with almost all of the residents working at the mill or the plant. Once comfortable and satisfied with their lives, the residents of Reading Pennsylvania find their jobs taken over by automation. As hard times approach, the lines between friendship and enmity, love and hate and equality and prejudice are blurred. The timeline jumps from 2000 to 2008 several times through the play, and the transformation from a happy and content town to a uber competitive and cutthroat environment can be seen. Follow the story of the occupants of this town, as they come to terms with the new state of affairs.

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Breathtaking drama about life in the American rustbelt.
– The Guardian