Award-winning new play Albatross is coming to the Farnham Maltings on May 23 at 7pm.

This gripping and thought-provoking play written by Martha Loader is about family, climate change and the future facing younger generations.

Blending sharp humour with a gripping, emotional story, Albatross explores motherhood, ambition and choices in a rapidly changing world.

Set in a kitchen late at night, it transports audiences to the frozen landscapes of Antarctica without leaving the kitchen table.

Alice (Caroline Rippin), a successful glaciologist, returns home from a gruelling Antarctic expedition to her daughter Alba and mother Eve (Agnes Lillis).

But while she has been away, everything has shifted - from catastrophic floods to an unexpected new relationship.

As the night unfolds, the three women confront difficult questions about responsibility, legacy and what people owe the generations that come after them.

Entertaining and deeply human, Albatross tackles the climate crisis through the lens of family life, creating an engaging, funny and moving story.

The play is resonant for younger audiences increasingly aware of the environmental challenges shaping their future.

Martha Loader developed the play after speaking with female Antarctic researchers, drawing on their experiences to create a story that is both intimate and globally relevant.

Albatross is produced by the Menagerie Theatre Company and supported by funding from the Arts Council England, the Unity Theatre Trust and the Sylvia Waddilove Foundation.

The Menagerie Theatre Company promotes, develops and produces new plays through its annual Hotbed Festival, the Young Writers’ Workshop and the Hidden Voices programme.

Since 2001 it has supported hundreds of writers, particularly those based in eastern England. It builds long-lasting relationships with playwrights, offering them a space for creative growth.

These include nationally-regarded writers such as Steve Waters, Fraser Grace and Naomi Wallace, and early career artists like Janice Okoh, James McDermott and Martha Loader.

For more than 20 years its artistic directors Patrick Morris and Paul Bourne have maintained a clear mission: to breathe life into brave new work and provide opportunities for writers to reach audiences.

Playwright Martha Loader is a writer, actor and producer whose work has been performed across the UK and internationally.

She won the Judges’ Award at the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting in 2022, and her new play, The Town, was awarded the George Devine Prize for 2025.

She is currently working on commissions with the Almeida Theatre, the Mercury Theatre and the Menagerie Theatre Company, and recently undertook the 4Screenwriting and BBC Voices programmes. She was nominated as a writer at The Stage Debut Awards 2024 for her play Bindweed.

Director Patrick Morris is co-founder and co-artistic director of Menagerie. He has directed Albatross, The Great Austerity Debate, Four For Jericho, Correspondence, Let Newton Be!, The Retreating World and Between This Breath and You.

He runs Menagerie’s Young Writers’ Workshop and directs public art projects, most recently The Trials of Democracy: Who Gives a XXXX?. He also runs The Ideas Stage, currently collaborating with Oxford and Sheffield universities.

For tickets, priced £16 (£14 members, £5 students), call 01252 745444 or visit https://farnhammaltings.com