About the Show

Alice Birch’s epic on masculinity, starring Kyle Soller and directed by Sam Pritchard.

Spanning the nineteenth century to the present day, this new work traces the evolving shapes of masculinity through a single, multifaceted figure. From motherless child and bullied schoolboy to soldier, coloniser, cult leader, and media personality, he embodies the roles, expectations, and contradictions that have defined male identity across generations. Through fragmented moments—ranging from military service to podcast recording, book launches to living as a badger—the production interrogates how personal and societal narratives of manhood are formed and perpetuated.

Written by Alice Birch (Anatomy of a Suicide, Normal People), the production features Kyle Soller (The Inheritance, Andor) in the central role. It is directed by Sam Pritchard, former Associate Director at the Royal Court.

Critic Reviews (6)

"This near-three-hour sweep of the patriarchy in its various iterations is a piece that throws up no end of provocative moments and ideas. It will keep you talking long into the night."
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"There’s something about the boldness of scope in her critique of manhood and the challenging looseness of Pritchard’s production that cuts through misgivings. "
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“Bewildering, bleak and often darkly funny”
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"This ambitious experimental play, often throwing anti-realism against naturalism, is a drama that is both mind-blowing and exasperating. It is bold, bold, bold, but also rather banal."
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" The stylistically kaleidoscopic script is also rhythmic, poetic, fiercely funny, deeply rooted in character, and at times literally breathtaking; it winds with brute emotional force."
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"Romans is a fascinating, upsetting project, and Sam Pritchard’s alert production quivers with tension under Lee Curran’s sculptural lighting."
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