FATHERLAND
Hampstead Theatre
★★★★
“a clever exploration of dysfunctional family life”
‘Fatherland’ is a one-act tragicomic play about feckless fatherhood. About two-thirds through, Joy, on a road trip to Mayo with her father Winston, declares that the best case scenario is getting there and finding Bono is her long lost Dad.
It’s a gloriously funny moment that perfectly captures the theme of Nancy Farino’s mainstream debut. Winston is a well-meaning man, a life coach, trying to be there for his clients and his daughter. But he runs away from the truth.
His abject failure to connect, mainly with twenty-something Joy (played by Farino); his coercion of her into a journey to find their origin family in Ireland; his avoidance of his solicitor’s attempts to get at the circumstances that have led to litigation stemming from his professional conduct; this is all painful to watch.
Writer-performer Farino has written a clever exploration of dysfunctional family life and a sharp, serious poke at a profession which, despite its ethical frameworks, permits people without formal training to counsel the potentially vulnerable.
It’s there as the drama opens. Winston, compellingly acted by Jason Thorpe, is on stage driving his bus. Winston is chanting his personal mantra “My name is Winston Smith and only good things happen to me”. Watching from the sidelines, we know it’s all going to go horribly wrong.
Director Tessa Walker, movement director Rebecca Wield and the production team deserve an award for creating a mime about a converted coach so completely believable that you forget it isn’t actually real. Two scenes run in parallel throughout the drama: the road trip and the interviews with the frustrated solicitor – ably played by Shona Babayemi. Inevitably these two apparently separate sets of action will collide.
Babayemi and Farino are convincing and very watchable. Babayemi is deliberately stiff at the beginning, in her formal outfit, and excellent as she softens into a sympathetic character. Joy is a difficult part to play with reversals in behaviour and her relation of dreams but Farino is truly empathetic performer. Thorpe, however, is the outstanding stage presence. Maybe he could polish the miming a bit, but this is a minor point: playing a fragile man, determined to have everyone, himself included, live their best life, he blends beautifully the comic and the tragic persona of Winston.
If there is a flaw in the play, it is the ending. The play fizzles out unconvincingly and with a reprieve for Winston. In the father/daughter context, it is understandable. A drama could have the courage to end with the final voice message from the solicitor. Altogether, though, it is a real pleasure to see a new piece by a young writer that is so well constructed.
‘Fatherland’ earned Farino a place on Hampstead Theatre’s INSPIRE programme. This gave her the support and production talent to shape a really excellent piece.
FATHERLAND
Hampstead Theatre
Reviewed on 6th November 2025
by Louise Sibley
Photography by Pamela Raith
Previously reviewed at this venue:
THE BILLIONAIRE INSIDE YOUR HEAD | ★★★ | September 2025
SHOWMANISM | ★★★★ | June 2025
LETTERS FROM MAX | ★★★★ | June 2025
HOUSE OF GAMES | ★★★ | May 2025
PERSONAL VALUES | ★★★ | April 2025
APEX PREDATOR | ★★ | March 2025
THE HABITS | ★★★★★ | March 2025
EAST IS SOUTH | ★★★ | February 2025
