Play: The Box

A couple, their faces fixed and strained, stare at each other from opposite corners.

Centre stage between them sits a large box, sinister despite the brightly coloured paper wrapped around it. So the scene is set.

We then go back to the couple's early days, with Kate (Sarah Lawrie) and Tom (Martin Edwards) getting to know each other, drinking wine and telling each other their stories, and deciding they are a couple after all.

But the box, large and ever present, reminds us there is an experience they prefer to keep locked away. Opening the box could be a release - yet threatens to inflict intolerable pain. Arguments arise when Kate first tries to tear away the paper.

The tension builds as the story of the couple and their family tragedy is drawn out in this tight, economical script, and Tom and Kate face up to the box and what is hidden within.

Both actors give raw, convincing performances, as the pair deal with their trauma and guilt. Tom is slightly more inhibited - he has his own views of what a man should be - while Kate is unrestrained, torn apart by grief.

The lighting and music seamlessly complement the mood throughout and the tension that rises.

Despite its dark story, this play is eminently watchable, with spot-on staging and sterling performances.

The Box, by Brian Coyle, directed Jonathan Woolf is at the White Bear Theatre, 138 Kennington Park Rd. SE11 4DJ until 3 August 2024. Tickets: £16 standard; £13 concessions See: www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk/