The Estate at the National Theatre review: Adeel Akhtar is extraordinary in this political yarn

Though contrived in parts, Shaan Sahota’s debut play about a British Sikh politician wrestling with his family and his desire to lead his party is an absolute blast. It’s anchored by an extraordinary performance from Adeel Akhtar, in which emotion seems to possess and convulse his wiry body. Wildly funny, sometimes shocking, occasionally absurd, Daniel Raggett’s shouty, kinetic, music-studded production is a hell of a ride.

We’re never told which party – currently in opposition - Akhtar’s Angad represents as the MP for Reading Central. There are echoes of Rishi Sunak in his private-school education and financially advantageous marriage, and of Sadiq Khan in his invocations of his baggage-handler father and his aspirational “story”. Sahota is interested – among much else - in the way non-white people are expected to perform in white-coded spaces, irrespective of political leanings.