Liverpool Sound & Vision Rating: * * * * *

Cast: Liam Tobin, Judith McSpadden, Paida Mutonono, Richard James Clarke, Chris Jack, Simon Hedger, Samantha Meisner.

Said&done have come back to the Unity Theatre with Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park, a play set in America in the 1950s and then later on in 2009. The play was originally written by Norris as a response to Lorraine Hansberry’s, A Raisin in the Sun, and looks at race relations in America over the last fifty years. Set in a fictitious Chicago neighbourhood, Russ and Bev are all ready to pack up and move on having sold their house to a coloured family, but very quickly learn how things really are in a society still not ready to move on with the times.

The first act is set in 1959, and perhaps the characters are slightly stereotyped but each are well placed in the American family. This is a strong cast and newcomer Richard James Clarke proves to be a particular favourite as Jim the Minister, awkward, bumbling and eager to administer spiritual aid where needed, he does well with the physicality of his character. Simon Hedger and Liam Tobin as always produce solid, well thought out characters, and are both engaging in their performances.

All are strong in accents that are not always easy to keep a hang on, and with Norris’s very technical script, the accents were fluent and strong throughout.

Set designer Katie Scott has done a fine job with the set, never before has the Unity seemed so transformed then with Scott’s bright yellow paint and 1950’s décor, complete with wallpaper and stairs. Stripped back for Act 2 when we come forward to 2009, the set proved to be another successful string attached to the bow of this very talented company.

Said&done set out each time to challenge themselves as artists as well as their audiences, and for Samantha Meisner and Gillian Lemon the brains behind the company, this is indeed what they have done with Clybourne Park.

Another success; Said&done continue to lead the way in exciting and inventive storytelling.

Janie Phillips