Summerfolk Revival
Closing: April 29, 2026Summerfolk - 2026 West End History , Info & More
National Theatre (Olivier)
(Waterloo) South Bank London
A summer of pleasure. A storm on the horizon.
It’s a hot, beautiful summer in 1905, and Russia’s elite retreat to the countryside to swim, sip champagne and start affairs.
When they’re having this much fun, why care about anything else? But Varvara just can’t shake the feeling that their holiday idyll is built on borrowed time.
As the party continues, how long can they ignore the storm on the horizon?
FEATURED REVIEWS FOR Summerfolk
Faithful yet ponderous
6 / 10
This new version, reworked by siblings Nina and Moses Raine, deploys pleasingly rough-around-the-edges modern language to convey information about the characters’ various class backgrounds and differing degrees of emotional disaffection. Every glib comment is countered by a grandiloquent philosophical pronouncement, every elegant turn of phrase undercut by a crude, sweary comment.
A stunning ensemble bring Gorky's satire to life
8 / 10
Gorky’s script has been given an idiosyncratic and often ribald updating by siblings Nina Raine and Moses Raine that will be divisive but which I found hugely entertaining. A play about inaction brings its own problems, however: as domestic spats and doomed flirtations play out, you wait in vain for something significant to happen. Perhaps it’s best to approach Summerfolk as a mood.
Category
by Aliya Al-Hassan - March 18, 2026
It’s a hot, beautiful summer in 1905, and Russia’s elite retreat to the countryside to swim, sip champagne and start affairs. When they’re having this much fun, why care about anything else? But Varvara just can’t shake the feeling that their holiday idyll is built on borrowed time. As the party continues, how long can they ignore the storm on the horizon?
by Gary Naylor - March 18, 2026
Splendid new adaptation of a play that can be seen as a respectful response to The Cherry Orchard
by Stephi Wild - March 17, 2026
The National Theatre has released photos of Nina Raine and Moses Raine’s new version of Maxim Gorky’s Summerfolk, a razor-sharp portrait of class, privilege and denial.
by Stephi Wild - February 11, 2026
The National Theatre has released rehearsal images for Nina Raine and Moses Raine’s new version of Maxim Gorky’s Summerfolk, a razor-sharp portrait of class, privilege and denial. Check out the photos here!
Summerfolk History
Other Productions of Summerfolk
| 2026 | West End |
West End |
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