
Albatross
Martha Loader(Author)
Nick Hern Books (Publisher)
Published on 7. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
88 pages
978-1-83904-559-2 (ISBN)
Description
'Your generation. You owe us a future. A chance at one at least.'
When glaciologist Alice returns from Antarctica to her daughter Alba and her mother Eve, she finds that everything has changed. There's been a flood, a funeral, and a new romance.
Maybe those cracks she discovered in the Antarctic ice have followed her home...
Urgent and explosive, Albatross takes us to the very boundaries of love and devotion in the age of climate catastrophe, asking what we're willing to sacrifice for a better future. Martha Loader's play was commissioned and first produced by Menagerie Theatre on a tour of the UK in 2026.
When glaciologist Alice returns from Antarctica to her daughter Alba and her mother Eve, she finds that everything has changed. There's been a flood, a funeral, and a new romance.
Maybe those cracks she discovered in the Antarctic ice have followed her home...
Urgent and explosive, Albatross takes us to the very boundaries of love and devotion in the age of climate catastrophe, asking what we're willing to sacrifice for a better future. Martha Loader's play was commissioned and first produced by Menagerie Theatre on a tour of the UK in 2026.
Reviews / Votes
'Plenty to enjoy... a rallying call of courage for us all' * Guardian * 'Rich and teeming with ideas' * The Stage * 'A tight 80 minutes, thick with awkward, fraught domestic interaction... both toe-curling to watch and genuinely educational... rich in dichotomies... wise when it comes to motherhood, to family, and to how we face up to the climate crisis, while resisting preachiness' * Broadway World * 'A modern-day kitchen-sink drama that explores generational sacrifice through the lens of climate change. It's a thoughtful piece that connects big environmental questions with the smaller, personal tensions of a family trying to live with the consequences of past decisions, essentially viewing both macro and microcosmic effects of the melting ice caps' * LondonTheatre1 * 'A touching family drama that dares to ask the important questions about motherhood and sacrifice' * Everything Theatre * 'Beautifully explores the complexity of motherhood... in the throwaway phrases there is a whole world of well-trodden thoughts of longing' * A Youngish Perspective * 'Leaves behind an unexpectedly moving sense of renewal and hope' * Reviews Hub * 'A sharp look at intergenerational strain within the escalating climate crisis... deftly captures the cracks radiating through a fractured relationship' * The Spy in the Stalls * 'An engrossing and commendably well-researched drama... Loader is clearly a name to watch' * Aleks Sierz *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
106 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83904-559-2 (9781839045592)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Person
Martha Loader is a playwright, actor and producer whose other work includes Bindweed, which won the Judges' Award at the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, and The Town, for which she received the George Devine Award.