THIS IS LONDON SUMMER ISSUE 2025 - Flipbook - Page 50
Adeel Akhtar (Angad)
Photo: Helen Murray
50
THE ESTATE
National Theatre
The time is now. We are in the
Westminster ‘village’, or more precisely,
the office of the Shadow Secretary of
State for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs, Angad Singh. This is not a
highly prestigious position because, first
of all, Shadow-anything in British
politics means your party is in
Opposition rather than in actual power
and, secondly, the remit is something
vaguely rustic and no one cares about it.
But – thrillingly – news is coming in
that the Leader of His Majesty’s
Opposition is about to resign.
Opportunity knocks! ‘Special Comms’
Petra, long limbed, high heeled, all
shiny nail polish and snide upper crust
remarks, sees the chance to rise to the
top if only her boss, Angad, can be the
new Leader. So does Isaac, Angad’s
apparently more lowly assistant (Isaac’s
the lucky beneficiary of a Policy Access
Scheme) even though he just told a
posse of Westminster gossips that
Angad was more likely to be
reincarnated as a Satsuma than to run
for such a post.
Angad himself – the brilliantly
earnest, unsmiling Adeel Akhtar – also
shies away from the idea for at least half
a sentence. Shaan Sahota’s writing fizzes
with hilarity from the outset, but its
genius is to engage the audience in the
characters’ ambitions, even as we are
laughing at them. This is why we feel
their pain when tall, patrician Ralph,
Opposition Chief Whip (what a title, and
it truly describes the role in parliament)
strides into the room to jolly Angad
along into supporting a rival for the role
of Leader.
This political scenario is perhaps the
most important moment of Angad’s
career. And yet it is not the crux of the
drama. The Estate alluded to in the play’s
title refers to the inheritance left by
Angad’s father, a first-generation
immigrant to Britain and self-made man.
Embedded in this substantial sum of
money is the life story, the culture, the
cruelty and the love of a man who
fathered three children, but only valued
his son. Hence the cat’s cradle of
difficult relationships between Angad
and his two sisters – politely glossed
over in the past, now split open like a
smashed fruit. It’s a classic family
squabble over inherited wealth, only
here intensified by the clash of two
cultures.
No one comes out of the conflict
smelling of roses. Humphrey Ker’s
Ralph, sucking surreptitiously on a
vaping device hidden in pinstripe
trousers, turns out to be a regular expublic-school bully. Angad himself, a
small, jug-eared, ferociously ugly man
who disdains the concealant offered for
his eye bags and talks of straightforward
policies intended to improve the lives of
all, turns out to be someone far more
complicated. Nearly all the male
characters are exposed as mild sexual
deviants in a juvenile and thoroughly
disgusting way.
Despite a screamingly funny
dénouement, The Estate has its moments
of poignancy. Daniel Raggett’s
production is a skilful composite of
human frailties, from fury and
resentment all the way to loss and
regret. The question remains: do we
really vote for people like this?
Lyndsay Scott
DRACULA AT LYRIC HAMMERSMITH
THEATRE
A theatrical thriller not to be missed,
this major new adaptation of Bram
Stoker’s horror classic uncovers the
female voices at the heart of the tale
from playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm
and director Emma Baggott.
‘Beware the teller as much as the tale.’
Awakened by the unimaginable horrors
she’s witnessed; Mina Harker demands
your attention. You’d be wise to listen
close. The only survivor of the tragic
events chronicled in the famous letters;
Mina is here to recount her version of
Dracula’s journey from Transylvania to
London. Alongside trusted allies, and in
memory of her beloved friend Lucy, they
scramble to piece together the truth of
his monstrous desires. But is their
performance merely a warning – or does
it have the power to conjure the dead?
Emilie Chen Photography by Charlie Clift
Playwright Malcolm said ‘there is a
timeless obsession with Bram Stoker’s
Dracula which has been so exciting to
dig into so far and I can’t wait to work
with Emma and our incredible cast and
team to bring it to the stage. Horror has
long been a genre I’ve loved and to be
able to explore this classic story within
the context of the scary times we're
living through has felt particularly
important and exciting.’
The upcoming production of Dracula
based on the novel by Bram Stoker will
run from 11 September – 11 October at
London’s Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.
T H I S I S L O N D O N M A G A Z I N E • T H I S I S L O N D O N O N L I N E • w w w. t i l . c o m • @ t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g
