Befitting its subject, Retrograde stages a Raisin in the Sun moment.

Every time I’ve seen Lorraine Hansberry’s classic, the audience erupts in applause when Walter rips up the contract that would’ve resulted in his family acquiescing to a white neighborhood offering to pay them NOT to become their neighbors. 

And my Retrograde audience at London’s Apollo Theatre reacted similarly when Sidney Poitier (Ivanno Jeremiah) rips up Hollywood’s Faustian contract at the end of Ryan Calais Cameron’s new play (he of For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy fame).

Need I point out that one of Poitier’s iconic roles is…Walter in A Raisin in the Sun.