Written by Bronagh for Theatre and Tonic

Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for our thoughts to be shared. All opinons are our own.

Content warnings: gun shots, strong language, fake blood, talk of suicide

Imagine this. You’re in a room with people you went to school with, a reunion of sorts. Two have dated, two hate each other and nobody remembers the fourth person. Also, there’s a gun and a note saying one person must die or everybody will. Makes your high school reunion look tame doesn’t it? The Cabin by Robert Emlyn Slater combines thriller and comedy, as tensions rise and secrets come bubbling to the surface.

Barons Court Theatre is one of my favourite theatres in London, mainly because I love the intimate space. Given the story of The Cabin and the characters clearly feeling claustrophobic and suffocated, this is the perfect spot. We meet Benny, Elsie, Ali and Matthew as they’re waking up in a locked room, all four seemingly unsure how they got there. We get the gist of the characters almost instantly; Benny and Elsie (Max Luck and Maisie Bagley) are the childhood sweethearts who have recently split up, Ali (Adele Marie) is fiery and short tempered and Matthew (Sam Walker-Kavanagh) is, to put it mildly, pretty annoying.

The story itself is enjoyable and certainly enough to keep audiences on their toes. Thriller and comedy are nicely combined, with lots of laugh out loud moments and plenty of gasps. I didn’t expect the ending whatsoever, which came after two last minute twists. Without revealing too much, I do think the inclusion of streaming could have been left out. The shocker of an ending still would have been achieved without having some rather farsical elements. However, I can also appreciate how this does also fit in with the ‘nerdy school boy becomes popular’ trope which Matthew fits into and gave audiences a bit of a laugh.

There were parts where I felt like we could have gone slightly deeper in character exploration. Benny talks about how he has attempted suicide following his breakup with Elsie; considering male suicide figures are high this could have perhaps been padded out a bit more. Similarly with Ali, she is described as Matthew as being violent, not able to hold a job down and the least ‘valuable’ to the group. It would have been quite interesting to understand why she was that way, and why Matthew was sure she would end up embroiled in a lie of drugs and criminal activity. However, that’s easy for me to say when I’m not the one fitting a whole show into little over sixty minutes.

Directed by Lorna Hale, the cast do gel together and give a believable performance. I’d have no problems believing in the real life relationships, dramas and life since school ended. Ali was a particular favourite character for me to watch, every little eye roll and sarcastic comment not going amiss. Walker-Kavanagh really leaned into his character, speaking far too loud at times and getting on everyone’s nerves – in a good way, I promise.

For a new show on it’s opening night, The Cabin proved very promising and showcased some great writing and acting talent. Maybe pad it out a bit, add some more meat to the bones and the writers are onto a sure winner – but please keep the intimate space!

At Barons Court Theatre until 11th July.

★★★

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