Originally known for singular stage plays, Birch has moved into film (Lady Macbeth, the End We Start From, the forthcoming Die, My Love) and TV (Succession, Normal People, Dead Ringers). Romans implies a desperation to escape the conventional, linear narratives of the screen, although there’s an obvious link back to the generational, testosterone-driven toxicity of Succession. Directed by Birch’s partner Sam Pritchard, the play is hugely ambitious and willfully uneven, profligate with ideas, at times exasperating. But having slept on it, I find it’s stayed with me on a deep level.
Romans, a novel at Almeida Theatre: ‘hugely ambitious portrait of masculinity’
