Writer: Winsome Pinnock
Director: Miranda Cromwell
The legacy of slavery, and the money the enslavers accrued from the practice, is something with which Britain is still struggling to engage. Whenever a National Trust property seeks to contextualise the history of the family that once owned it, they encounter resistance from a small segment of the public.
And such recontextualisation lies at the heart of Winsome Pinnock’s The Authenticator. Set in a crumbling stately home, its current owner, Fenella (Sylvestra Le Touzel), has discovered a series of diaries written by her ancestor, Henry Harford, that cover the six years in which he owned and ran a farm in Jamaica. The diaries are dominated by factual lists – in which the enslaved people who worked the land are listed as a subcategory under “livestock”.
Two academics, Abi and Marva (Rakie Ayola and Cherrelle Skeete), arrive to authenticate the diaries. Both women have connections which, strictly speaking, are conflicts of interest: Ayola’s character went to Oxford with Fen, and whose band even played the same pubs as Fen’s, but the latter woman never acknowledged her. Meanwhile, Skeet’s Marva, who shares the Harford surname with Fen, harbours an old family legend that says her ancestors didn’t just adopt their owner’s surname, but are Henry Harford’s true heirs.
The investigation of the diaries’ contents causes all three women to reassess their and each other’s family legacies. Abi has to contend with her descent from a rich Nigerian family that also owned slaves, while an exploration of the crumbling manor exposes hints that Fen and Marva may indeed be related.
With the legacy of enslavement may be a heavy topic on its own, it is finely balanced here with layers of comedy. Le Touzel, in particular, is adept at presenting a new spin on the archetypal dotty middle-aged spinster. While her obliviousness to how racist some family heirlooms – a painting here, a statue of a young enslaved boy there – might be somewhat hackneyed, Fen herself is a delight. So too, Skeete’s Marva offers a level of irreverence rarely seen in fictional academics. Even Ayola, often taking on the role of straight woman to her more overtly comedic counterparts, has a lightness and informality until those occasions where she must show a backbone of steel.
There is a fourth character here, too – Jon Bausor’s set, which creaks as it grows and shrinks to represent the various rooms of Harford House. It brings a decidedly Gothic air to proceedings, adding a further stylistic layer to the comedy and the socioeconomic undercurrents.
Laughs and haunted-house shocks may seem like unlikely bedfellows in a story that challenges not only how we are to think about the money behind some of the great stately homes of England, but also how even the recontextualisation of history can only come from chamfering off some of its uncomfortable edges. And yet, it is this awkward juxtaposition that becomes The Authenticator’s true strength. Offering hilarity and jump scares is a great way to distract us, allowing deeper truths to sidle into our heads when we least expect them.
Runs until 9 May 2026
