Review: THE AUTHENTICATOR at the National Theatre (Dorfman)

Stuart King 16 April, 2026, 12:21

The Dorfman’s uber flexible stage environment once again pays dividends at the National Theatre in the latest offering by playwright Winsome Pinnock. THE AUTHENTICATOR directed by Miranda Cromwell, shines a light on Britain’s colonial, slave-owning past, while also managing to instil a creepy air to proceedings resulting in a gently amusing caper imbued with serious social and historic undertones.

Rakie Ayola, Cherrelle Skeete, and Sylvestra Le Touzel in THE AUTHENTICATOR. Photo by Blacksocks.

Fenella (Sylvestra Le Touzel) has inherited a country pile Harford House from her late brother Henry, one of a long line of Henrys Harford, the first of whom made his fortune as a plantation owner over a period of 7 years in Jamaica. While rummaging through boxes in the basement of the creaking building, Fen (as she prefers to be known) uncovers six volumes of inventory from the overseas estate dated 1756-63 and we join her as she excitedly introduces Abi (Rakie Ayola) and her young protégé Marva (Charrelle Skeete) to their dusty but well preserved covers. The pair of archivists are there to authenticate the records which they believe will almost certainly contain some revealing nuggets about the family’s slave owning past. Meanwhile, in a bid to balance the scales, Fen — who during her days at Oxford was a rebel with green hair and a feigned cockney accent — points to a painting which purports to depict her ancestor alongside a notable abolitionist — so that’s alright then!

On Jon Bausor’s traverse set of lowering ceilings, secret entrances and props rising through trap doors, the trio move through the house providing some playful visual magic for the audience who quickly realise they must be on their mettle and fully attentive.

Much comedy is made of Fen’s lack of self-awareness and an inability to comprehend her cultural appropriation once distant blood relative “Black Sarah” is identified in the pages of the archive. She’s too busy sporting a kente shawl and chatting to Women’s Hour about embracing her 2% Ghanaian heritage to join the dots that her enslaved ancestor would have been a victim of rape. When Marva realises she can make a tangible genetic connection between her own Grandpa Melvin and the Harford clan, it is Oxford academic Abi, who from her own position of social privilege has to remind her of the requirement for analytical and interpretative detachment in their work, setting-up an uncomfortable clash.

It could be argued that key elements in the writing are a little too predictable, leading to the overly neat and tidy denouement. Marva, a young, black, working class woman, may ultimately inherit the estate which has belonged to a long line of white antecedents who acquired it with the proceeds of slavery. It’s seems an unlikely conclusion, albeit one which for the purposes of the play feels pleasing and just.

THE AUTHENTICATOR plays 90mins straight through and continues at the National Theatre Dorfman until 9th May.