The Authenticator at the National Theatre – review

Alongside two much older works currently at the National Theatre, pioneering playwright Winsome Pinnock comes to the Dorfman to premiere an intriguing new play about inheritance, secrecy and how the behaviour of our ancestors can shape us. The Authenticator is a pacy and surprisingly witty three-hander which explores the legacy of enslavement for both those who were responsible and those who are descendants of the enslaved.

After sculptor Fenella Harford inherits her family’s stately home, Harford Hall, she discovers a pile of hidden diaries dating back to her family’s ownership of a plantation in 1756. Intrigued by their contents, she calls in academic Marva and her mentor Abi to authenticate them. As their work reveals a distinctly sinister side to Fenella’s ancestors, each woman must come to terms with their own history and what their personal legacies might be.

Pinnock’s sharp writing ensures that this production is not a straightforward exploration where one side is good and the other is evil. She brings in aspects of Africa’s own involvement in the Atlantic slave trade, the huge amounts of compensation paid to enslavers, the complexity of where inheritance should be directed and adds cultural appropriation into the mix. It’s perhaps too much to unpack in 90 minutes. In amongst an improbably large number of coincidences, there are important and thought-provoking messages, but the path to get to them feels disjointed.

Miranda Cromwell directs the strong cast of three fluidly, and they have convincing chemistry. Sylvestra Le Touzel has great fun as the eccentric Fenella, or Fen. Convivial and welcoming, with a jolly-hockey-sticks type of enthusiasm, Le Touzel shows a woman who fails to see exactly where the grandeur that surrounds her originates and is jolted by what appears to emerge.

Cherrelle Skeete gives several layers to Marva; an inquisitive and passionate academic, she is also prone to distraction and deviation from the proper channels due to a developing personal connection to the investigation. Skeete has an energetic and natural stage presence, contrasting well with Rakie Ayola’s calming presence as Abi. Ayola gives us a highly intelligent woman, with a measured approach; she challenges Marva to stick to the rules and Fen to confront the actions of her ancestors.

Jon Bausor’s set has several ingenious elements; first placed in an imposing room of the manor house, with a fireplace at one end and a doorway on the other, a romantically derelict ceiling hangs above. This ceiling rises and descends as the room settings change, along with the addition of a secret doorway, a trapdoor, a staircase that appears through the floor and a revolving mantelpiece. Full credit to Shelley Maxwell’s entirely natural movement direction, which makes full use of the centrally located staging that places the audience on either side.

Billed as a “gothic psychological thriller”, there are moments of comedy, drama and real pathos, alongside some investigative scenes that feel a bit Scooby Doo in tone. There’s much to enjoy in this production, but it needs to be more focused to authenticate its own identity.