Manor at the National Theatre: a ‘breathtakingly inept’ satire
New ‘state-of-the-nation’ drama mystifies, bores and slowly enrages
“Some plays are so awful that they almost become enjoyable,” said Clive Davis in The Times. Others, like the National Theatre’s new “state-of-the-nation” drama Manor, merely mystify, bore and slowly enrage.
Moira Buffini is the writer of previous hits including Dinner, and the film The Dig, but her latest play (directed by her sister Fiona) is “breathtakingly inept” – a misfiring satire that “lurches from one improbable scene to another before sinking with all hands”.
Its setting is a decrepit manor house, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. A storm is raging outside, and as the waters rise, the house’s grand owner gives refuge to a crew of diverse but one-dimensional characters, including a gay vicar, a black nurse from London, and the leader of a far-right group called Albion. The set-up promises a hint of “peculiarity”. Alas, the play quickly descends into a pantomime of “editorialising ding-dong between rival emissaries of traditionalist and multicultural Britain”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
One assumes this “turkey” was intended as satire, said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian, but it wobbles uneasily between drama, farce and murder mystery with “dystopian disaster movie optics thrown in”. It’s clear, for instance, that the racism and misogyny of the far-right leader are being parodied; but this feels crass and gratuitous against the prevailing “saggy sitcom vibe”. There are “limp jabs” against “the wealthy 1%” and “hormonal white men”; there’s a lesbian kiss which seemingly “aspires to be radical”; even climate change is awkwardly wedged in.
Of course, the house beset by a storm is “meant to represent Britain falling apart”, said Patrick Marmion in the Daily Mail. “But really it is just a pretext for the men to spout sub-Nietzschean supremacist twaddle.” There “is wittering about Islamic takeovers. The nurse warns darkly that they are ‘clinging to the laws of the future’. What does that mean? Who knows?”
Manor may be a play only “right-wing nutjobs” will understand; but the real question is, how on earth did the Buffinis persuade the National to stage this “chaos”?
Lyttelton, National Theatre, London SE1 (nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/manor). Until 1 January
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The Icelandic women’s strike 50 years onIn The Spotlight The nation is ‘still no paradise’ for women, say campaigners
-
Mall World: why are people dreaming about a shopping centre?Under The Radar Thousands of strangers are dreaming about the same thing and no one sure why
-
Why scientists are attempting nuclear fusionThe Explainer Harnessing the reaction that powers the stars could offer a potentially unlimited source of carbon-free energy, and the race is hotting up
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
6 well-crafted log homesFeature Featuring a floor-to-ceiling rock fireplace in Montana and a Tulikivi stove in New York
-
Film reviews: A House of Dynamite, After the Hunt, and It Was Just an AccidentFeature A nuclear missile bears down on a U.S. city, a sexual misconduct allegation rocks an elite university campus, and a victim of government terror pursues vengeance
-
Book reviews: ‘Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife’ and ‘Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong With Baseball and How to Fix It’Feature Gertrude Stein’s untold story and Jane Leavy’s playbook on how to save baseball
-
Rachel Ruysch: Nature Into ArtFeature Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through Dec. 7
-
Music reviews: Olivia Dean, Madi Diaz, and Hannah FrancesFeature “The Art of Loving,” “Fatal Optimist,” and “Nested in Tangles”
-
Gilbert King’s 6 favorite books about the search for justiceFeature The journalist recommends works by Bryan Stevenson, David Grann, and more
-
Ready for the apocalypseFeature As anxiety rises about the state of the world, the ranks of preppers are growing—and changing.