The Shatter Box – Lion & Unicorn Theatre, Kentish Town

Writer: James Lewis
Director: David Brady

Reviewer: Christine Stanton

“Strong Cast, Restrictive Narrative”

3 / 5

Trapped in a giant metal cage – Knight has a secret, that when revealed, will release him from the daily torture he is having to endure. The guards are relentless, trying everything they possibly can to make him talk, but the only problem is nobody knows exactly what it is that they’re trying to get to the bottom of.

James Lewis’ intense dystopian drama sets the tone automatically with Knight (Fred Wardale) curled up in a ball in the middle of the cage, visibly distressed and confused as to why he’s been imprisoned. The guard, Castle (Nick Hardie) and carer, Bishop (Lauren Ferdinand) play good cop, bad cop style roles – Castle using brute force and torture tactics, while Bishop seems to have genuine sympathy for Knight. Both of which have alleviated any of their concerns about working there by repeating their mantra of ‘it’s just a job’, pushing any worries to the back of their minds, desensitizing themselves from the reality, and just getting on with it. In charge – is Reina (Gabrielle Nellis-Pain) who approaches the cage with a cold, clinical approach, unphased by the task at hand after years of experience.

Wardale plays a believable prisoner – his distress, anger and confusion at his kidnapping resulting in expected questions and natural remarks. Nellis-Pain is fabulous as the hard, unflinching captor, her voice perfectly expressive (a dream narrator!), while still portraying a slight robotic element to convey her unsympathetic, almost inhuman nature. Hardie is excellently intimidating, alongside Ferdinand’s confliction, balance each other out brilliantly to create intriguing character dynamics on stage. The addition of Joseph Lukehurst as Adam is an enjoyable surprise, his beaten down manner adding the final layer of shock to the tension charged production.

Lewis has created an intriguing show with an excitingly unique premise, but with such a restrictive narrative, it’s quite hard to progress the story along during the hour runtime. Because nobody knows what secret they’re trying to uncover – many of the interrogation scenes are quite repetitive, with much of the same questions, responses and reactions being rehashed with little variation once the initial scenes are explored. The ambiguity also makes it quite hard to fully invest into the storyline – with the audience as much in the dark as everyone else, there’s nothing specific to root for, and the mystery starts to feel trivial rather than intriguing as the show progresses. When the ‘truth’ is finally revealed it is very anticlimactic, and would almost be better to have left open ended or with a bolder claim, rather than with such a weak revelation. Because the show starts with such an intense introduction to the storyline, the height of suspense is reached very early on, and with no real tonal shift as the show progresses, the intensity starts to lose its original impact. Some minor tweaks are needed to allow for some relief during the show to keep the action high and break the otherwise unwavering intensity.

Overall, the cast are incredible and really help to keep the audience engaged. The narrative is a wonderful premise, that just needs some slight amendments to keep the shock factor high and the interest invested.

Runs until 14^th September 2025