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”.
Subscribe to 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
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Book reviews: ‘Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America’ and ‘How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, 1978–1998’
Feature A political ‘witch hunt’ and Helen Garner’s journal entries
By The Week US Published
-
Following the Tea Horse Road in China
The Week Recommends This network of roads and trails served as vital trading routes
By The Week UK Published
-
Roast lamb shoulder with ginger and fresh turmeric recipe
The Week Recommends Succulent and tender and falls off the bone with ease
By The Week UK Published
-
Adolescence and the toxic online world: what's the solution?
Talking Point The hit Netflix show is a window into the manosphere, red pills and incels
By The Week Staff Published
-
Snow White: Disney's 'earnest effort to meet an impossible brief'
Talking Point Live-action remake of Disney classic is not the disaster it could have been – but where's the personality?
By The Week UK Published
-
Don McCullin picks his favourite books
The Week Recommends The photojournalist shares works by Daniel Defoe, Lesley Blanch and Roland Philipps
By The Week UK Published
-
6 breathtaking homes in capital cities
Feature Featuring a glass conservatory in Atlanta and a loft library in Boston
By The Week US Published
-
Playhouse Creatures: 'dream-like' play is 'lively, funny and sharp-witted'
Anna Chancellor offers a 'glinting performance' alongside a 'strong' supporting cast
By The Week UK Published