The Shatter Box – The Lion & Unicorn Theatre, London

The Shatter Box returns to the Lion and Unicorn Theatre, posing questions about our relationship to the truth and to each other.

The Shatter Box

The Lion and Unicorn Theatre, and resident theatre company Proforça, have a special place in this blogger’s heart.  Back in 2021 after a particularly dreary lockdown, I was absolutely delighted to be able to see live theatre again here.  AAAAA was an intriguing, bold bit of theatre that welcomed me back to live performance.

All that seems a world away now.  If anything, we suffer instead from a surfeit of wonderful theatre and the impossibility of seeing it all.  But the premise of The Shatter Box, the latest production by Proforça Theatre Company at the Lion and Unicorn, was good reason to choose to spend my evening here.  The Shatter Box, so the Lion & Unicorn website tells us, is “a rollercoaster dystopian cat-and-mouse tango”.  The set up is simple.  Like a scene from Guantanamo Bay our protagonist, Knight (Fred Wardale) finds himself locked in a small cell.  His only company are the employees of this mysterious facility: nurse Bishop (Lauren Ferdinand), security guard Castle (Nick Hardie) and the enigmatic Reina (Gabrielle Nellis-Paine). It’s Reina’s job to get to the truth. And Knight’s job to reveal it.  But what is that truth?  If it was that simple, we wouldn’t be here in the first place.

The Shatter Box is clever writing.  Credit to James Lewis, who has created a story with interesting twists and turns.  I never quite knew where it was heading.  There is also a lot to keep you thinking during the play’s brief 70 or so minutes.  You will have spotted the chess reference in the characters’ names.  It sets the characters up as players in a game, given meaning through their relationship to each other, their decisions, and their ability to stay one step ahead.  There’s also the nod to Guantanamo Bay and other “extra-judicial” judicial facilities.  We understand more of the mindset of those who work there through Bishop and Castle: how they rationalise the brutality while coping with the mundanity. 

Truth and Consequences

But ultimately it’s Knight and Reina who are pitched in a battle of wills here.  Who will prevail?  Who will find the truth?  And what larger forces are at play? The Shatter Box raises interesting questions about truth. Or truth and consequences, perhaps. The ultimate point of this whole set up remains obscure throughout. All detainees need to do is reveal their truth, and then, apparently, walk away. To what end? What good is the information, and to whom? These plot points are not developed in The Shatter Box, which focuses instead on incorporating a reasonable amount of character development in a short space of time. Let’s just say I didn’t expect to warm to a Steps-playing, truncheon-carrying, burger-stuffing tough guy to the extent I did.

So it’s what’s happening in the moment that is the most interesting part of this piece. The acting is good throughout. David Brady, who directs (with Matthew Parker consulting), keeps a tight focus and tension, relieved at the most opportune times by a moment of levity or humour. The fourth wall breaks are unusual and add to the fun for the audience. Great use is made of the space, giving an impression of a wider facility beyond. The set design is simple but effective, with good use of AV elements. The only small hitch was the monitor showing vital signs going into standby mode during the performance: technology always picks its moments!

I have the feeling that The Shatter Box has continued to undergo refinement and revisions during the creative process. Reviews of an earlier 2023 run read a little differently. Cast announcements indicate a slightly different format. I can only assume a fruitful collaboration with dramaturg Georgie Bailey. What results is tense, unpredictable, and thought-provoking. There’s excellent potential here, and a very engaging and exciting production in the meantime.

A final note: don’t be deterred by the current closure of Kentish Town Underground Station. You can easily reach the theatre from the Overground or Tufnell Park. And it’s worth arriving early to make the most of the great pub downstairs!

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5

The Shatter Box on until 14 September 2024. More info and tickets here.