This slow-burn Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Lynn Nottage has the potential to be sucker-punch, but is let down by direction that feels too safe.

Sweat follows a multicultural, working-class community in the American Rust Belt that begins to fall apart when the local factory promotes an African American woman (Carla Henry’s Cynthia) and decrease everyone else’s wages. Nottage wrote the play in 2015, ahead of Trump winning the reliably Democratic Rust Belt – and this play boldly explores why, before it even happened. Did people who voted for Obama vote for Trump because of racism? Nottage pokes holes in the argument that everything is about race and that these people are motivated purely by racism. She also pokes holes in the axiom that one cannot be racist because they have a black friend – or, indeed, voted for a black president.

The stage design by Good Teeth studio, though simple, is effective; many of the plays themes and ideas are fleshed out in the design. For instance, the action mostly takes place in a bar, but it resembles more a boxing ring – a place of tension and turmoil – signifying the violence that is to come. Huge slabs hang from above; the ropes look like they might give way. Even when the characters are in the bar, the foreboding industrial landscape is felt from above: it is inescapable, and it informs every aspect of their lives – even their friendships. Indeed, when Cynthia is promoted, Tracey (Quesnel) leads a racially motivated campaign against her, and things are even worse for Latin barman Oscar (Cruz), who accepts a job at the factory when the others quit in protest.

At 3-hours long, this play is cumbersome and needs more to excite an audience and hold its attention. With Trump campaigning for a second term, the play does feel timely, but strangely also feels like it would impact more in the US – it doesn’t feel timeless and global, as Lynette Linton’s staging did at the Donmar Warehouse in 2018. Director Jade Lewis seems to let the writing do the work, but this only works if the writing is building to a climax. In the end, it’s lacklustre – such a slow, long play needs more inspired direction to keep audiences interested. And while the stage design compliments the drama, it shouldn’t compensate for it.

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