Juniper Blood review – middle-class urbanites up sticks in search for new pastoral idyll

Donmar Warehouse, LondonMike Bartlett’s invigorating play becomes a state-of-the-world drama about whether it is possible to live responsibly in our age of toxic capitalismMike Bartlett’s striking three-act play is a curiously changing thing. It begins as a blended-family satire with eco-arguments and generational clash bolted on. But with each act the ground on its earthy set turns, developing into what might be a state-of-the-nation play and entering into similar ground to Bartlett’s brilliant Albion in its portrait of middle-class urbanites who have upped sticks for an alternative, “better” rural existence through sustainable farming.It grows into something bigger and more universal still, to become a play about how to live responsibly in the midst of toxic capitalism. Are the characters who seek freedom in fact in retreat? Is localism just a yearning for a purer past and can we rewild our way to a new pastoral idyll? Important questions are asked through the prism of a family headed up by Ruth (Hattie Morahan), her shaggy, laconic partner, Lip (Sam Troughton) and Ruth’s former stepdaughter, Milly (Nadia Parkes). Continue reading...

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