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Almeida, LondonRevived by Rupert Goold just over two years after its premiere, this subtle drama has grown with new meaning
In 2017, Rupert Goold directed a state-of-the-nation play by Mike Bartlett that did not once mention Brexit, though it was palpable in the lives of the middle-class family who move from London to a rural corner of England. Albion studied politics, patriotism and the seductions of nostalgia through the prism of family life. It is now back at the Almeida with much of the old cast – Victoria Hamilton is still the formidable matriarch, Audrey – and its island-shaped stage.
Why has Goold revived Bartlett’s play so soon? Because, he writes: “Plays, like plants, grow over time. Their meanings shift.” Britain’s departure from the EU inevitably changes the way this play is received. One character sneers at the “European temperament”, another speaks of the “shocking result of a completely unnecessary plebiscite” and the central garden on stage – which represents an old, unspoilt England for Audrey – is spoken of as a “battlefield”. Maybe the echoes and ironies in Albion will resound more deeply when we have greater real-life distance. Either way, it remains a deeply satisfying and powerful piece of theatre. Continue reading...