Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop – The Lion & Unicorn Theatre, London

October is the perfect time for the Lion & Unicorn Theatre to stage Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop, an anthology of psychological horror shorts, part of the theatre’s Here | For season.

Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop

I love a bit of spooky theatre around Halloween, and my favourite kind is in the uncanny/psychological horror. I’m not one for gore, but give me a good chill down my spine any day. And so it was with anticipation that I went to see Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop, a work by Pither Productions now on at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre. Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop was selected from more than 50 submissions to be part of Here | For, a season of breakout work supported in many ways – including financially – by resident theatre company Proforca. This concept deserves our support, so please check out the season, which runs until 7 November!

But back to Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop. As I mentioned at the outset, it’s an anthology work. What that means in practice is four short pieces of theatre, loosely tied together through an overarching concept. Think The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror, which I saw referenced in this interview. In this case, the linking concept is the antique shop. The Tourist (Nina Atesh) stumbles across the shop, which isn’t on any maps. A great spot to make some content for her followers! But her interactions with Monty (Nicholas Benjamin) start strange and get stranger. What is the point of an antique shop where you can’t touch anything? The point, as it turns out, is for the audience to discover the stories behind the objects.

And here is where the anthology comes into play. There are four short plays: The Photographer and Susannah by Nina Atesh, and Deadlocked and Murmurs by Alexander Wright. Each playwright also directs their works, and you’ve seen Atesh’s name before as The Tourist. Shanice Petilaire, Akshay Sharan and Ryan Williams are the ensemble who take on the roles within the four stories.

Immersive Worlds

I don’t want to spoil too much about the contents of those stories. But I don’t mind telling you that the objects that spark them are a camera, a revolver, a radio, and a laptop. From these, Wright and Atesh spin up remarkably rich little worlds, given they fit in only ten minutes or so. The audience is taken to different times, different places. Some resemble our own world in most respects. Others less so. Like all good horror, the stories play on our fears. The fear of the unknown, the uncanny. The fear of not knowing who to trust. Or the fear of losing control, particularly of your own creation.

I didn’t quite get a chill down my spine, or maybe just a little one. On the other hand, I did have a lot of food for thought in their dystopian visions, and appreciated the humour that Wright and Atesh brought to their script. Either way, I was immersed in each world for its duration. This was partly thanks to consistently good performances from the ensemble of three. And also, it seems, a good team around them. I have to give mention here to Joseph Emms, who provided the fight choreography. The fight scenes were impressive, and took into account for the most part the fairly flat sight lines at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre.

And so with that, my October theatre season is off to a good start! This anthology concept is something I’d like to see more of, actually. I enjoyed dipping into each story briefly, with the overall concept to keep things flowing. Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop is the second production within the Here | For season, with three more to go. So if this chilling quartet sounds like your thing then get booking, otherwise check out the remaining listings here.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5

Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop on until 17 October, as part of Here | For which runs until 7 November. More info and tickets here.