Review: Summerfolk
in the Olivier Theatre @ the National until April 29th 2026
Director: Robert Hastie
Writer: Maxim Gorky
Adapted by: Nina Raine & Moses Raine
Cast: Sophie Rundle, Alex Lawther, Doon Mackichan, Paul Ready & Peter Forbes
Well, at least I now know what the emergency evacuation procedure at the National Theatre is like…
About half an hour before Summerfolk was due to start, the fire alarm - which consists of a blaring sound followed by a genuinely intimidating recording a man ordering everybody to leave via the nearest available exit playing on a loop - went off due to, I’m reliably informed, an errant fag end. Just under an hour later and all was fine, with this 165 minute long play now starting at 8:05 in the evening. The things I do for theatre, eh? But hey, anybody who knows me knows I love a bit of metaphor and allegory, so please indulge me while I now strain myself to link this alert of potential impending doom to the narrative of Maxim Gorky’s 1904 play, which was written mere months before the First Russian Revolution…
Adapted by Nina and Moses Raine, this production of Summerfolk leaves the action in early 20th Century Russia but updates the translation so that it better befits and reflects the audience of 2026. The narrative follows a group of these titular Summerfolk, a slur for upper middle-class tourists who descend on the Russian countryside for the summer months to frolic and relax while the servant class waits on them and cleans up after them, as they wile their days away. The characters consist of authors, poets, doctors, industrialists and housewives, all of whom obsess over their emotions, their love lives and their inheritances, while just in the distance, never visible but often heard and alluded to, Russian society is fizzing with a febrile rage that threatens to boil over and destroy them all.
With its vast cast of characters, all of whose narratives intertwine and all of whom are brought together for an explosive confrontation in the final act, Summerfolk recalls the great Russian novels of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, even though it is much more spatially and temporally restrained. Much of the text feels like a satire of its own genre, with Gorky (and, in turn, the Raines) taking aim at the sensibilities of the Russian epics and their melodrama and hysteria. The men in particular are portrayed as frivolous and absurd, their exaggerated ruminations on sex and love played for laughs rather than genuine drama, emphasising just how out of touch these people are with the material reality of the country they profess to love so very much.
Permeating the play is this sense that the concerns of the petty bourgeoisie are just that: petty. Russia is on the cusp of violent revolution, people are starving, workers are exploited and undervalued, the wealth gap is obscene (sound familiar…?), yet all the while the facile Summerfolk bicker about poetry and sermonise about the nature of romance. They are the complacent liberals and arrogant conservatives who ignore the increasingly deafening alarm (callback!) ringing in the distance and presaging their doom, instead focusing on insular arguments about nothing. Yet throughout, the dialogue is a compelling mix of dry humour and careful foreshadowing.
This idea of a world on the brink of vast social change is also apparent in the staging, which is vast, open and overwhelming. There is a makeshift element to the staging, a mass of wood that operates as both a house and, later, part of a forest, emphasising its impermanence, while the characters move about the stage as though wafting through a hazy dream. The performances are uniformly strong, with special mention to Alex Lawther, who does a worryingly good job playing a lovelorn, pathetic wannabe poet, and Paul Ready, who is delightfully wretched as the “man of the house”.
Though it is over 120 years old, this production of Summerfolk has a feverishly contemporary edge and Robert Hastie’s staging is magnificent. The exploration of issues of economic and social injustice is insightful and timely, and the performances are both playful and emotional, particularly during the intense confrontation in the final act. Though it ran until nearly 11:00pm due to the delay, the production is nonetheless pacy and consistently entertaining, and I’m delighted to see it has been revived on such a big stage with such a stellar cast.
Race to get a ticket before they’re gone.
Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐