Did two plays become one?

Dorfman Theatre at National Theatre

The National Theatre’s smallest space The Dorfman has reopened following a refurbishment with a debut play by Shaan Sahota. It concerned a British politician with a Punjabi background vying for the party leadership while in the midst of a family feud following the death of his father. Many of the reviews praised her writing and her ambition but didn’t think her attempt to amalgamate the two stories worked. Adeel Akhtar took on the lead role to considerable acclaim.

[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]

4 stars ★★★★

Calling it a ‘deliciously vicious satire’, Dave Fargnoli at The Stage said: ‘the piece has a slow-building heft, starting out as a sparky, close-to-the-knuckle political caper but growing increasingly grim and shocking as the characters’ facades of privilege and civility are stripped away to reveal the seething greed, entitlement and cruelty beneath.’

The Standard’s Nick Curtis declared: ‘Though contrived in parts, Shaan Sahota’s debut play about a British Sikh politician wrestling with his family and his desire to lead his party is an absolute blast. It’s anchored by an extraordinary performance from Adeel Akhtar, in which emotion seems to possess and convulse his wiry body. Wildly funny, sometimes shocking, occasionally absurd, Daniel Raggett’s shouty, kinetic, music-studded production is a hell of a ride.’

The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar agreed. She began with the star: ‘his creepingly explosive turn in Shaan Sahota’s debut drama is unmissable. It carries this first play, almost eclipsing its imperfections.’ She had good things to say about the playwright: ‘It is exciting writing, fast and funny in its political satire’. But there are Buts: ‘But there is too much stuffed in, jostling for air’ and ‘But the biggest hole is that none of it resembles the politics of today.’ Nevertheless ‘it is a sensational debut, and if the best kind of failure is one that bears too much ambition, there is an admirable kind of over-reaching here, and a great playwright in the making.’

Chris Omaweng of LondonTheatre1 thought, to paraphrase, that the story was a lot of fuss about nothing, even so, ‘What the play and this production of it provides, in bucketloads, is dramatic tension.’ Despite his reservations, he labeled it ‘entertaining, engaging and energetic.’

Theo Bosanquet of LondonTheatre concluded: ‘it’s always welcome to find a dramatist who can deliver a serious message with such a light touch. All told it makes for an ideal summer play, a highly enjoyable evening that will give you plenty to debate on the journey home. It confirms Sahota as a writer to watch, and Akhtar as one of our most luminous acting talents.’

Alex Wood at WhatsOnStage praised the star: ‘At the heart of it all is Adeel Akhtar, giving a brilliant sleight-of-hand performance. At the start of the show, put-upon and beleaguered, he feels like some socially awkward school prefect…Like Atlas, weighed down by the overwhelming mass of constitutional concerns, he leans, crouches, staggers almost. By the close, a toxically masculine metamorphosis has taken place…and Akthar breathes genuine menace into Singh.’

3 stars ★★★

Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski found it ‘funny and frustrating in equal measures.’ He explained that there are two ‘pretty good plays’ that don’t align: ‘Daniel Raggett’s production the comedy bits are so broad as to undercut the more sensitive bits. It feels like two different shows crashing into one another, bound only by a corrosive skepticism about politicians.’

Alexander Cohen at BroadwayWorld took a similar view: ‘the personal and political are layered on top of each other until they collapse under their collective weight.’ But ‘In Daniel Raggett’s sharp direction subtle touches dissolve tension and hint at the silliness beneath it all’.

The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish described it as an ‘impressive but uneven debut play’. He explained: ‘The play’s ambition – as it shifts from lighter moments to vexed concerns about equality, race, patriarchy and trauma – is refreshing. But Sahota covers so much terrain that Daniel Raggett’s production sometimes stumbles when the mood shifts and the piece becomes hobbled in terms of plausibility by its plot-motoring twists.’

Alice Saville in The Independent found the author’s writing ‘refreshing’ but said Daniel Raggett, who directed Accidental Death of an Anarchist, ‘hasn’t quite worked out how to bring together this more serious play’s two disparate halves here, even if there’s enough pace and slickness to disguise the joins. Chloe Lamford’s design is a literal cabinet that ingeniously slides open to reveal hidden spaces. Sahota’s writing doesn’t always achieve the same feat,lacking the surprise revelations and twists that normally power both funeral sagas and political dramas.’

2 stars ★★

The Times’ Clive Davis was blunt: ‘Two plays are running side by side here and neither of them really works.’ He continued: ‘Sadly, Daniel Raggett’s hectic production can’t compensate for the wild implausibilities in the storyline and while Angad has all the makings of a man of straw, there are some uneven performances elsewhere.’

Critics’ Average Rating 3.5★

The Estate is at the National Theatre’s Dorfman Theatre until  23 August 2025. Buy tickets from the theatre here.

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