Review: Fatherland (Hampstead Theatre)

Review by Sam Waite

⭐️⭐️

In our modern era of influencers, organisers, task-for-hire apps and yes, even life coaches, we are both constantly connected to and distanced from the actions and decisions of others. In her debut play, Fatherland, Nancy Farino examines whether an unqualified, untrained individual can truly be seen as a responsible authority, and how someone so unprepared may respond to the worst consequences. Premiering at Hampstead Theare, the show also raises questions around family divides and the search for belonging, leaving us to decide whether the show is equipped to answer them.

Joy steps outside to give her flatmate a moment of silence for their Zoom call, only to find her dad struggling to park a renovated school bus – he texted, he tells her, but she certainly seems surprised by the visit. Winston’s been in contact with distant family on Facebook, and somehow talks his reluctant daughter into a misguided, clearly doomed road trip to visit their roots in County Mayo, never mind her counter that visiting the actual relative in Swansea would be a faster route to connection. Intercut are scenes from an earlier meeting between Winston and Claire, a lawyer he met with to discuss a potential suit being brought against him by the family of a life-coaching client, claiming professional negligence on his part.

Slightly frustrating is how compelling the scenes between Claire and her would-be client are, how secondary they make the A-plot actually seem. Winston’s meeting with his potential representation feels as if it could be a standalone work, one well suited to Fatherland’s stripped-back, intimate production, a feeling deepened by how engaging the two characters are. Farino does far better work in these scenes than between father and daughter, where the County Mayo roots seem merely an excuse to pair them up, and neither character seems to go through any real growth or significant change.

Farino does manage to insert a fair amount of humour into the father-daughter dynamic, as well as some moments of genuine affection. The biggest disappointment in the road trip plotline is Joy herself, who exists only as a more sober-minded foil to Winston, and eventually as the voice of harsh truths he is in dire need of hearing. Playing the character herself, Farino is engaged and reactive as Joy, but curiously it’s her own character who’s been given the least developed arc, leaving her performance little room for growth. Maybe Winston is our POV character, and this is a sign of how little connection he had bothered to forge with the family he has before chasing grander ideas, but the production never seems to be framed from any one viewpoint.

Director Tessa Walker keeps the transitions between scenes smooth, with Farino’s flowing dialogue sliding easily between the bus and the lawyer’s office. Coupled with movement direction from Rebecca Wield, Walker uses only a pair of seats to transform Debbie Duru’s stage from one location to the next, the consistent use of motion helping to build a sense of momentum. The pacing is also firmly controlled, the hundred-minute runtime feeling neither bloated nor rushed to reach the end of either plotline, reflecting nicely how rushed but aimless an adventure Winston has pulled Joy into.

Jason Thorpe is endlessly energetic as Winston, bringing a wayward quality to the role in which he becomes a man desperate to be loved and cherished, but so fixated on his next grand adventure that he can’t see the damage he is leaving in his wake. There are moments of a genuine, tender chemistry between Thorpe and Farino, which help to deepen the dismay when he once again missteps, and to enhance Thorpe’s dynamic and eccentric presence. He also has a combative, exciting chemistry with Shona Babayemi, who brings a professional calm and personal frustration to Claire. Anchoring his fanciful touches nicely, Babayemi is in full control of their scenes together, and maintains a firm, guiding hand throughout her impressive performance.

Christopher Nairne’s intense lighting and Khalil Madovi’s sound design do a lot to transform Duru’s deliberately simple road of a stage, creating some striking moments and an atmospheric final moment. One drawback of this stage is that a raised platform at one end of the mostly-traverse stage makes such moments (minimal though they are) difficult to view for those closest to them. As in control of pace as Walker’s direction is, the use of space can be a bit much when those in the middle of rows have to divert their attention from one end to the other, especially when the content of a scene is almost entirely, sometimes completely, dialogue-focused.

Nancy Farino’s playwriting debut shows a lot of promise in terms of thematic ideology, but unfortunately her talents either don’t translate fully or aren’t fully ready for a full-length production this time around. There is some wonderful humour to be found, and some genuine moments of reflection strengthen the performances immensely, but Fatherland feels too underbaked in placed, too unsure of how best to introduce its author’s themes, to truly succeed.

Fatherland plays at Hampstead Theatre until November 29^th

For tickets and information visit https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2025/fatherland/

Photos by Pamela Raith