✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper plus a pair of free tickets to a London event sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper


Sign up by Email or Facebook.

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we sent newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Turning tips into memories

Get started Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • About us
  • Tickets
  • Membership
  • Get Started
  • Membership
  • Tickets
Get our exclusive content
+ choose a pair of free tickets from our edit of favourite events
Theatre

Shipwreck, Almeida Theatre review ★★★★★

11 Feb 19 – 30 Mar 19, 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Playwright Anne Washburn brings a sinister and sensational Donald Trump comedy to the Almeida Theatre

3 CW readers are interested
The cast of Shipwreck at Almeida Theatre. Photo by Marc Brenner
The cast of Shipwreck at Almeida Theatre. Photo by Marc Brenner
Shipwreck, Almeida Theatre review 3 Shipwreck, Almeida Theatre review Intern Culturewhisper
Playwright Anne Washburn and director Rupert Goold tackle the monolith of Donald Trump’s presidency and the dark side of liberalism head-on in this three-hour theatrical fantasia.


Seven liberal New Yorkers and long-time friends meet upstate for a weekend away in an old farmhouse that one couple is renovating. A snowstorm shuts them in with little food and booze, and no electricity. No matter, they have more important things to discuss, like the crumbling state of their nation and how they got to the point where Donald Trump could conceivably become president. These conversational scenes are interspersed with monologues from a white Christian farmer who used to own the house, and from his adopted Kenyan son Mark, who ages from childhood to manhood as the play progresses.


Shipwreck is delivered by a competent and committed cast, with particular nuance from Fisayo Akinade who plays Mark. From the get go he is the most enticing and complex character, who invites the audience into increasingly upsetting visions of what his life would have been like had he been brought to his home town a few centuries before as a slave. Racial brutality, male rape and the future of his daughter are just a few of the complicated anxieties he wrestles with.




Shipwreck at the Almeida. Khalid Abdalla (James Comey) and Elliot Cowan (Donald J Trump). Photo by Marc Brenner


Fantasies, allegories and allusions weave themselves throughout the play, both as themes that the characters try to unpack, musing on how allegories help us understand the world, and as literal scenes, such as when Donald Trump and George W Bush have a showdown over the Iraq War and engage in a punch up fight to end the first half.


The ‘liberal elites’ discuss at length how censorship made Greek and Shakespearean plays eternal, tapping into the universal human condition, as opposed to the fleeting relevance which fuels plays that directly address the political traumas of the day. This feels like Washburn is meta-critiquing her own work. Shipwreck both illustrates loose allegorical fantasies and frankly addresses the political onslaught of June 2017, but this time period now feels stale compared to the moment-by-moment progression of an increasingly frenzied news cycle.


There is no doubt that Washburn has a singular voice as a playwright. She can be poetic, surreal and naturalistic all in the turn of a phrase. Her work has been wildly divisive, particularly with shows like the darkly surreal Mr Burns. Her less contentious adaptation of TV show The Twilight Zone is transferring to the West End this March.


However, Shipwreck doesn’t provide that quintessential Washburn madness that one would hope for. The show doesn’t employ enough abstraction to make it a poignant allegory, nor does it utilise enough realism to create a searing indictment of the new dawn of Trump. If the script was more distilled, this play could pack a gut punch. Instead, it playfully slaps you on the hand and bids you goodnight.






by Natasha Sutton Williams

What Shipwreck, Almeida Theatre review
Where Almeida Theatre, Almeida Street, Islington, London, N1 1TA | MAP
Nearest tube Highbury & Islington (underground)
When 11 Feb 19 – 30 Mar 19, 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Price £5+
Website Click here for more information

You might also like
Free for Members
Up to £60
Stones in His Pockets, Rose Theatre
All booked
28 of February 2019

Stones in his Pockets

See all tickets

Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 22 - 24 February
Things to do in London this weekend: 22 – 24 February
Best art exhibitions, London, 2019
Best art exhibitions, London, 2019
Debut at the National Theatre: Cate Blanchett stars in When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other
When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, National Theatre review

Editor's Picks

Things to do in London this weekend: 22 - 24 February
Things to do in London this weekend: 22 – 24 February
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London, 2018
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London, 2019

We recommend nearby

  • Ottolenghi, Islington

    Supper fare at Ottolenghi includes the likes of pan-fried octopus and slow-roasted Cabrito goat, with a wide range of vegetarian options inspired by the flavours of the Mediterranean and Near East. They don't take bookings, though, so we recommend getting in early.

    Book Map
3

Almeida Theatre

Almeida 2018 Season

Almeida 2019 Season

You might like

  • Simon Russell Beale and Leo Bill in The Tragedy of King Richard the Second. Photo: Marc Brenner

    The Tragedy of King Richard the Second, Almeida Theatre ★★★★★

  • Lily James and Gillian Anderson: All About Eve, London Theatre 2019

    Lily James and Gillian Anderson: All About Eve, Noel Coward Theatre review ★★★★★

  • Jenna Coleman to star in All My Sons, Old Vic Theatre London

    All My Sons, Old Vic Theatre

  • The Culture Whisper team
  • What is Culture Whisper membership
  • Corporate membership
  • Give a gift membership
  • Retrieve a gift membership
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY
TO CONTINUE TO ENJOY CULTURE WHISPER

You’ve clicked to view the best of our content that we
save exclusively for our members.

If you liked what you saw, subscribe from just £15 and get
unlimited access to our unique culture service as well as
all of our membership benefits.

BECOME A MEMBER ×

Want a pair of free tickets every month?
Upgrade to Gold Whisper now
and save 10% with GOLD10.
Become a premium member today.

UPGRADE NOW ×