THE WANDERERS
Marylebone Theatre
★★★
“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.
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
