★★★

“a tough piece to engage with”

‘The Wanderers’, directed by Igor Golyak, maps two different marriages within the Jewish experience: one, an Orthodox and very traditional family, and another – set pretty much now – a liberal, well-educated couple from Brooklyn. Abe, (Alex Forsyth) the protagonist, binds the two units together as the son of the former. He is a prolific and successful novelist who is heavily inspired by Philip Roth (a minor warning sign). He and his wife Sophie are both writers, but she has subdued her own (less successful) career to service her husband’s very successful one whilst she cares for the children. After one of his book readings, Abe begins an ethically dubious and emotionally charged email affair with famous actor, Julia (Anna Popplewell). But all is not as it seems.

It is the visual language and metaphor of this play which elevates it. The set (Jan Pappelbaum) features a transparent screen divides the stage horizontally. It is engaged with in a multitude of creative ways, holding much symbolic weight. Throughout the piece, different characters draw props and key words onto the screen. This is very striking: for example, a square becomes a laptop dividing two characters engaged in their email correspondence. This device also cleverly externalises Abe and Sophie’s writerly minds – a useful way of expressing rich interiority. Golyak’s visual landscape here is both attractive and idiosyncratic.

It does, however, work to compensate for the for subpar dialogue and plot. Given that ‘The Wanderers’ centres around two – supposedly excellent – writers, it’s hard to cognitively marry this with the demonstrably unimaginative dialogue and action. The characters, though well-acted, are uncompelling and lack charisma, which makes the whole piece a bit of a schlep.

The acting, to reiterate, is successful. Popplewell is lovely as famous actor, Julia. So too is Katerina Tannenbaum as beleaguered Esther, who spends most of her time drowning in the misery of marital misogyny and boredom. Paksie Vernon as Abe’s maligned wife works well and with integrity. Forsyth is also very watchable, even if his character, unlike his wife, lacks any discernible integrity. Part of the issue here derives from the fact that this show focuses on a sort of male fantasy, inspired by the Philip Roth imaginary. Personally, I feel that angle has been rinsed, and in the absence of nuanced comment to develop this discourse in any way, it flounders as the premise for a show.

It’s hard to pinpoint the purpose of this play: there are gestures towards inherited fictions and the traps of imagination, but these are not adequately developed. Besides the visual spectacle, aided by some excellent lighting (Alex Musgrave), it’s a tough piece to engage with. Not tough to grapple with conceptually, but tough to discern the concepts in the first place.

A big commendation should be noted though: majority of the cast and creative team are actually Jewish – a rarity in the field of representation. We should celebrate Jewish theatre, but I don’t know what the Jewishness in this play offered, or really what ‘The Wanderers’ was trying to offer as a piece of art.

PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS at the Trafalgar Theatre

★★★★★

“a gripping performance that shoots up right into our bloodstream”

In Duncan Macmillan’s unsettling play, “People, Places and Things”, we are taken headlong into the mind of an addict in forensic detail. Without the need of a surgeon’s eye glass or scalpel we witness the outer layers being peeled back by the incisive dialogue, the razor-sharp acting. But also Jeremy Herrin’s staging which is inseparable from Bunny Christie’s set design that pulses throughout to the distorted and fractured rhythms of the protagonist’s identity. Identities even, whether they are true or false. We are never sure, and neither is she. How can you lie about who or what you are when you believe there is no truth to begin with?

‘She’ is Nina, drunkenly murdering Chekhov’s iconic dialogue. But then she is Emma, taking a line of cocaine before reluctantly checking into rehab. Then again, she might not even be Emma. One thing we are certain of, though, is the sheer, brutal brilliance of Denise Gough’s portrayal of this complex and compelling character. We cannot escape her, trapped as she is in Christie’s white tiled set with its hidden doors and camouflaged ventilation grids that allow little breathing space. It bursts into chaotic crashes of techno nightlife before melting back into the mundane sobriety of a rehab clinic. Everything is an extension of her mind, even the people.

A running gag is the fact that Emma’s therapist and doctor are the spitting image of her mother. Sinéad Cusack gives a stunning performance in all three roles including the mother, highlighting the contrasts and the similarities of each character. The therapist’s ‘cruel-to-be-kind’ approach offset by the mother’s bitter, beaten, and threadbare love for a daughter she thinks doesn’t deserve it. Similarly, Kevin McMonagle doubles as a crazed rehab patient, re-emerging as Emma’s father in Act Two. There is no moralising here. Just a bare dissection of grief in the wake of a dead son and brother.

The fall out of addiction is the core of the piece, and we see it through Emma’s eyes. Macmillan offers no judgement whatsoever as each aspect is picked apart. Gough takes us on an authentic journey through the milestones of denial, anger, anxiety, paranoia, truculence, withdrawal. A personality shattered into many shards, none of them trustworthy or trusting. Nightmares unfold before her eyes as Emma emerges in multiple forms, crawling from the walls, out of the bed, twitching and spinning around her until you can’t really tell which one is the real Emma. James Farncombe’s lighting plunges us into Emma’s drug-fuelled blackouts with a ferociousness matched by Tom Gibbons’ soundscape.

Mercifully there is hope. Malachi Kirby, as fellow user Mark, describes himself as a ’scream in search of a mouth’ but ends up working at the clinic as a volunteer. He has more than a second sight. All knowing, he helps pull the truth from Emma as she eventually tries to ‘come clean’ – in all senses of the word. Not everybody is so lucky. We learn how profoundly difficult it is for the addict to avoid the people, places and things that can, at any time, trigger a relapse. The emotional confrontations are frighteningly true to life and at times devastating. Yet the miracle is that there is still plenty of room for humour, and the central theme of addiction steps back once in a while to let these multi-layered personalities fill the stage. There is a humanity in all the performances that transcends the subject matter. Yet it is always there, as a grim and palpitating pulse. And at its heart is Gough – in a gripping performance that shoots up right into our bloodstream. The play is truly addictive.

Tag Archives: Paksie Vernon

THE WANDERERS

★★★

Marylebone Theatre

THE WANDERERS

Marylebone Theatre

★★★

“a tough piece to engage with”

THE WANDERERS

Marylebone Theatre

Reviewed on 22nd October 2025

by Violet Howson

Photography by Mark Senior

Previously reviewed at this venue:

SEAGULL: TRUE STORY | ★★★★★ | September 2025

A ROLE TO DIE FOR | ★★★★ | July 2025

ALICE IN WONDERLAND | ★★★ | July 2025

FAYGELE | ★★★★★ | May 2025

WHITE ROSE | ★★ | March 2025

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ANNE FRANK | ★★★★ | October 2024

THE WANDERERS

THE WANDERERS

THE WANDERERS

🎭 A TOP SHOW IN MAY 2024 🎭

PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS

★★★★★

Trafalgar Theatre

PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS at the Trafalgar Theatre

★★★★★

“a gripping performance that shoots up right into our bloodstream”