'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.
'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
About the Author :
Martha Loader is a writer, producer and actor.
Her writing for the stage includes: Albatross (Menagerie Theatre Company, 2026); Bindweed (Mercury Originals/HighTide/New Wolsey/Royal Exchange Theatre, 2024); Splinter (Play Nicely Theatre, Eastern Angles); Cuckoo (INK Festival, schools tour); and Phenomenon (Hotbed Festival, Cambridge Junction).
Bindweed won the Judges' Award at the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2022. Loader won the Award for Promising Young Playwright at INK Festival 2019. She is an alumnus of the Mercury Playwrights, Soho Writers' Lab and HighTide Writers programmes.
Author photo by Louis Catliff
Review :
'Plenty to enjoy... a rallying call of courage for us all'
'Rich and teeming with ideas'
'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'
'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'
'A touching family drama that dares to ask the important questions about motherhood and sacrifice'
'Beautifully explores the complexity of motherhood... in the throwaway phrases there is a whole world of well-trodden thoughts of longing'
'Leaves behind an unexpectedly moving sense of renewal and hope'
'A sharp look at intergenerational strain within the escalating climate crisis... deftly captures the cracks radiating through a fractured relationship'
'An engrossing and commendably well-researched drama... Loader is clearly a name to watch'
