⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Five Stars)

Alice Birch’s Romans, directed by Sam Pritchard, is a bold and gripping exploration of masculinity across centuries through the lives of three brothers: Jack (Kyle Soller), Marlow (Oliver Johnstone), and Edmund (Stuart Thompson) Roman. Over the course of this thoroughly enthralling play, each brother grapples with what it means to be a man in a world shaped by violence and power.

The story is both epic and intimate. Beginning in the 1800s, the brothers’ lives stretch into the present day, ceasing aging once they reach adulthood, yet always evolving. While the first act sweeps forward with blistering speed, the second act deliberately slows, narrowing its focus to a modern world uncomfortably close to our own. At nearly three hours including an interval, Romans is a marathon of a play, but it never drags. Instead, it grips, challenges, and mesmerises.

As the eldest brother, Jack, Kyle Soller delivers a fantastic performance, embodying both the abused child and the man he grows up to become. A man in “constant pursuit,” Jack joins the military, travels the world as an esteemed writer and photographer, and re-emerges in the second act as a slow-talking, self-assured, and condescending cult leader, before being publicly cancelled and shunned. As the middle child, Marlow, Oliver Johnstone is chilling in his portrayal of a cruel, power-hungry man. Complicit in genocide, Marlow later amasses great wealth through capitalist ventures and becomes involved in politics. By the second act, he is making appearances on misogynistic manosphere podcasts between ice baths and Bryan Johnson-style bio-hacking, becoming an unsettling amalgamation of figures such as Elon Musk and Andrew Tate. Stuart Thompson, as the youngest brother, Edmund, gives a touching performance as a young man lost in the world with no role models or aspirations. When urged to make something of himself, he quietly repeats, “I have not the pieces.” Dependent on his brothers’ money, he drifts without direction until, in the second act, we find him leading workshops on how to live like a wild animal for men grappling with mental health struggles, having spent several years living as a badger in his attempt to escape an uncaring world.

Though Romans is firmly centred on the male experience, Birch ensures women’s absence is acutely felt. Their late arrival in the first act when they seize microphones to challenge the brothers’ narrative before being physically removed from the limelight, is a powerful reminder of whose voices are being excluded.

The play’s design is minimal yet striking. Merle Hensel’s weathered grey set, with its rotating platform, gives the playing space both versatility and starkness, with furniture only introduced in the second act. A large screen at the back of the stage serves both as a canvas for Lee Curran’s atmospheric lighting design and as the vehicle for a live video feed of the documentary filmed during the second half.

In Romans, Birch’s writing and Pritchard’s direction combine with outstanding performances to create a production that brilliantly interrogates masculinity across modern history and into the present day.

Romans runs at Almeida Theatre until 11th October 2025.

Tickets Available Here