The Wanderers Review: Marylebone Theatre
Wondering if The Wanderers at Marylebone Theatre is worth adding to your London theatre list? Here’s my honest take after an evening in this tiny Baker Street venue with Anna Ziegler’s Brooklyn-set drama.
First impressions: an intimate night at Marylebone Theatre
Marylebone Theatre is one of those spaces you can easily walk past if you’re hurrying from Baker Street to Regent’s Park – a small, quietly elegant building that feels more like a neighbourhood arts centre.
It’s a good match for The Wanderers – a play that lives in close-up.
You’re never far from the actors, and that closeness reflects the themes of marriage, faith, and little lies that turn into big ones, featuring a small but mighty five-person ensemble.
What The Wanderers is about (*without spoilers*)
Written by Anna Ziegler and directed here by Igor Golyak, The Wanderers weaves together two Jewish couples, decades apart.
In one thread we’re in 1970s Brooklyn with Schmuli and Esther: a Hasidic couple whose arranged marriage begins with shy hope and quickly runs up against the realities of obedience, motherhood, and a community that leaves very little room for “what if?”.
Running alongside is the story of their son Abe, now a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist in present-day Brooklyn, and his wife Sophie, also a writer.
Their life is secular, bookish, full of MacBooks and New Yorker references – but quietly unravelling. When Abe starts an email correspondence with Hollywood actress Julia Cheever, the line between creative flirtation and emotional affair blurs fast.
Tonally, it sits somewhere between domestic drama and philosophical debate, there’s laughs absolutely but it’s far from a cosy rom-com.
In my opinion, The Wanderers is built for people who enjoy plays where not everyone is likeable, and where you leave still arguing with yourself about who – if anyone – did the “right” thing.
As someone who also grew up within a very religious framework in the US, a lot of the play’s tension rang familiar — that tug-of-war between the rules you’re raised with and the life you eventually choose for yourself.
It’s one of the reasons the show stayed with me long after the lights came up. It isn’t simply a story about religion, but about the aftershocks of leaving — what you carry with you, what you repeat without meaning to, and what it costs to build a life outside the expectations you grew up in.
Final Thoughts: Is The Wanderers Worth Seeing?
For me, The Wanderers was a nice reminder that good theatre isn’t limited to Soho and the Strand.
If you’re looking for a night of spectacle, this isn’t that. But if you want smart writing, intimate performances, and a play that actually leaves you thinking (not just entertained for two hours), The Wanderers is absolutely worth catching before its run ends on November 29th.
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