The Estate - review

The Estate explores the pressures ethnic minorities face to conform in predominantly white spaces. Angad Singh, a British-Sikh MP, unexpectedly rises in his party's leadership race after the leader resigns due to a scandal. Initially reluctant, he becomes a favourite, fueled by ambition and a desire to prove his critics wrong, particularly his late father.

Angad is depicted as a level-headed yet insecure aspirant for political power, keen to honour his father's sacrifices and show the utmost gratitude for all his father has sacrificed for him: “I need to show that breaking his back meant something.” His father's unexpected death and the decision to leave all his money to Angad, despite having two sisters, create tension. Gyan and Malicka argue for equal division of the estate, revealing issues of patriarchal inheritance and past family abuse. Angad struggles to balance his political ambitions and his loyalty to his father's wishes against fairness to his sisters, expressing resentment as they never faced the same harsh treatment he did.

Gyan and Malicka are opposites and could be described as yin and yang. Malicka is known as the catty and argumentative sibling who has a lot of anger at the fact her father never looked in her direction nor cared for her the way he did for Angad. Whereas Gyan is the peace maker, trying to hold together what’s left of their dysfunctional family. 

 A major theme of the play is holding people of colour in politics to a higher account because they speak for communities that are underrepresented. Angad questions why he is being called out for wanting the same success and values as a white politician. Does this make him the villain of the play? Well, to his sisters. The leadership race seems to be uncovering wider issues we face today in society. Angad unofficially announces he would be a great fit to run his party into victory at his father’s funeral in his local Gurdwara. Themes are portrayed such as classes, misogyny, and the pressures of political ambition, which are contemporary in today’s society, where the political world and family life clash with one another.

The ending was curated to make the audience take in everything that has happened since Angad received his father's will and the monster it has brought out in him. But what was quite remarkable was that Angad was so blinded by the potential power he could hold that he became his father, a person who didn’t show much empathy or love to his family. 

The Estate asks uncomfortable questions with wit and precision, and it leaves you still wondering integral questions posed throughout the play long after the curtain falls.