This nihilistic comedy about a British Asian politician who seizes his chance to become leader of the opposition is funny and frustrating in equal measures.
In the opening scenes, first time playwright Shaan Sahota (she also works as a doctor!) does a decent job of spinning an In The Thick of It-style yarn about Angad (Adeel Akhtar), a very junior British Sikh shadow minister who suddenly finds himself in play for the leadership of what is implicitly the Tory Party. The opening scenes thrum with an energy similar to a previous National Theatre triumph, James Graham’s This House, as it plunges us into an amusingly compromised world of sweary spads, cocky whips and malleable MPs. Helena Wilson is scene stealingly entertaining as the apparently humble Angad’s shark-like head of comms Petra. It’s fun.
But then Sahota introduces what is essentially an entire second main storyline, this time revolving around Angad’s late father’s will and his family’s lasting trauma at their patriarch's unfeeling treatment of them. We see Angad playing the role of the understanding if somewhat distant brother to his GP eldest sister Gyan (Thusitha Jayasundera) and hilariously highly strung middle sister Malika (Shelley Conn, superb). And then we see him calmly accept the will’s shocking contents, much to the horror and fury of his siblings.
These two threads – cynical political comedy and sensitive look at the traumatising legacy of a patriarchal upbringing – are by no means impossible to square. Akhtar’s Angad displays broadly the same characteristics in each: a nice, humble guy whose head is instantly turned the second opportunity presents itself. But it’s not enough to make The Estate align with itself. In 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.
But on that last note it feels weirdly detached from the real world: there’s no mention of Rishi Sunak, Reform or who the actual ruling party of the day is. I’m not even sure any real life politicians or political events are namechecked at all. I realise the intention is to avoid getting bogged down in political detail, but there is something peculiar about its blend of detachment from and immense cynicism toward contemporary British politics. In the Thick of It was very recognisably a version of the late New Labour era, but the 2025 Tory Party is an astoundingly hot mess and The Estate suffers from only wanting to engage with it in very general terms.
Don’t get me wrong: there are two pretty good plays here. The ‘comedy’ plot lacks specifics but has some smart stuff about the way parliament is composed of people from such an unhealthily compressed social sphere. They’ve all known each other since they were kids, and were literally groomed for power.
The ‘serious’ plot paints the family as so traumatised by their overbearing late dad that they’re each damaged to the point of dysfunction. It reckons more sensitively with the family’s status as second-generation immigrants and the lasting shadow of ‘traditional’ values.
Either would have made a really satisfying full-length play, or even a double bill of shorter plays. But the two just don’t mesh: The Estate seesaws between amusingly blunt and just plain bleak; Aktar’s Angad – even by this country’s Trussian standards – just too much of a public liability to possibly be made LOTO, at least by the end. You’re allowed a bit of latitude in a comedy of course but Raggett’s production is only half that. It’s decent, but too disjointed to serve as a classic debut.
