Our Public House review – a heartfelt portrait of divided Britain set behind the bar

Leeds Playhouse
Dash Arts’ community-inspired production finds warmth and urgency in the local pub – even if its theatrical elements don’t always cohere

The English pub is the perfect crucible for Dash Arts’ latest piece inspired by community workshops from creator and director Josephine Burton.

A storm is blowing into the town where the Albion pub sits, both meteorological and political. Inside the rundown establishment, Sanjana is a landlady who is on her last legs and ready to throw in the bar towel. Her husband has died and her loving teacher daughter only returns occasionally these days. That the pub is given the ancient name for Britain is no coincidence – a lot of research has gone into this, not least the workshops around the country attended by more than 700 people, whose conversations were shaped by Barney Norris into the script and by Jonathan Walton into songs.