THE CABIN by Robert Emlyn Slater at Barons Court Theatre 7 – 11 July 2026

‘Left wanting more? That’s hardly a bad thing.’ ★★★ ½

The conceit is simple. Three (sort-of) schoolfriends wake up in an unknown locked room next to a former classmate they scarcely remember. A gun is found, alongside a note promising that within an hour one must die, or all will.

So follows an enjoyable yomp through teenage amorality, bullying, and the philosophical worth of an individual life. There is an inevitability to proceedings. Despite all initial arguments to the contrary, this is only going one way - we don’t need a certain Russian to know that gun is getting fired – but it’s an enjoyable experience all the same.

The cellar-like space, stripped bare of Flymo’s and old Christmas lights, clearly amps up the pressure, as do the slow reveals of past cruelty and lonerish oddness of Matthew (Adam Walker-Kavanagh).

Our disbelief suspension faculties are tested at times, largely by the supposedly private expository duologues conducted in the corners of a room smaller than a Zone 1 Studio, used to quickly establish the simmering tensions between Benny (Max Luck), Elsie (Maisie Bagley) and Ali (Adele Marie).

Likewise, Matthew’s outsider status and designation as terminal pigtail-pullee suggest an obviously deeper role in proceedings, an initial suspicion that is never truly challenged and ultimately proves correct. 

That being said, the illusion holds, and Robert Emlyn Slater’s script is genuinely funny, pacy and the good kind of bleak, with real moments of tension.

The excellent cast delivers throughout. Luck and Bagley conjure a depressingly believable former couple, setting aside their imminent demise to obsess over break-up accountability and/or bicker with Marie’s Ali, who proves a delightful pot-stirring chaos agent, almost tragically unable to understand why she does what she does.

Walker-Kavanagh is just wonderful as Matthew, faultlessly conducting proceedings and providing the biggest moments of levity and threat.

Lorna Hale’s direction is also first-rate, with a clear respect for both the performers and audience, ensuring the regular jokes and pop culture references don’t come at the expense of terror. Throughout, there was a joyful sense of behind-the-scenes trust and collaboration.

The Cabin started off as a ten-minute rehearsed reading and to a certain extent still feels unfinished. The ending is rushed and while the denouement raises interesting questions about online revenge culture and the legacies of social isolation, there is no time for these to be explored. In the end though, with the superb acting and direction, we can easily forgive those sins, and this work would shine as a fringe show in Edinburgh or somewhere more affordable.

Left wanting more? That’s hardly a bad thing.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_cabin_play/

Written by Robert Emlyn Slater

Directed by Lorna Hale

Cast

Max Luck

Maisie Bagley

Adele Marie

Adam Walker-Cavanagh

Photography: Rhodri James