Review: Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop, Lion and Unicorn Theatre

When The Tourist (Nina Atesh) walks into the strange antiques shop that wasn’t on any maps, it’s fairly obvious things are not going to be quite as they seem. This sense is further reinforced when the brilliantly bizarre Monty (Nicholas Benjamin) lets out the first of his many manic laughs. Knowing both these performers are also fans of the macabre probably helps, with Atesh herself a big part of the annual GrimFest season. 

With that knowledge in hand, it’s unsurprising then that the Monty of Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop is not so much a shop owner as a collector of memories, each item on the shelves with a tale to tell. The neat little framing device allows writers Atesh and Alexander Wright to pull together four short chilling stories. Each has an appeal, holding enough mystery to draw you in and keep you guessing. But each also runs the risk of being just a little too mysterious, perhaps something lost in translation somewhere between initial idea and reaching the stage. 

The prime example of this is The Photographer, which sees a politician asking his assistant “You’re not one of them, are you?” It creates a mysterious tension as to what ‘they’ might be, yet come the piece’s finale the solution is slightly too vague to create the required gasp of shock and awe. There are lots of great ideas at play but they’re often not quite fully executed. It’s an issue that slightly hampers each story, offering sparks of imagination but never quite feeling fully formed.

This is a real shame because each story has lots to give. Murmurs especially teases it has a strong core, as you wonder what the relationship really is between the man and woman, while the voices coming from the radio may or may not be real as they try to convince that all is not as it seems; is she just insane or is he not the man he claims to be? Of the four, this one really feels like it could develop into a full show in its own right. It certainly feels most Black Mirror-esque in its darkness, and Black Mirror does feel to be quite the influence on the whole show. 

The other issue is that whilst the framing device has a charming old-fashioned feel, in contrast the stories seem almost futuristic, causing a conflict as you wonder how an antique shop that collects memories contains items that feel from a different time and even realm. It’s a contrast that needs tidying up to marry the various sections in a more satisfying manner. 

Having said all that, the production is still fun in many ways. Benjamin’s Monty is gloriously over the top, while Atesh does a fun turn as a rather annoying influencer (surely we can all agree that influencers should come to horrible ends on the stage?).  Shanice Petilaire, Akshay Sharan and Ryan Williams offer up fine performances within each section. It’s interesting to watch each take on the contrasting roles the separate pieces demand, pushing them in differing directions. Petilaire’s AI bot in Susannah is brilliantly portrayed, with some clever lip-synching and sound effects, while Williams and Sharan excel in their fight scenes within Deadlocked. 

Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop has plenty of intrigue, demonstrating the promise of what could be done as it evolves and given greater consideration of how to draw out more tension from each piece. It is very much a show written by two lovers of stage horror, and we should certainly be grateful that we have creatives such as these, who want to keep this genre alive outside of the horror festival season.

You can read more about it in our recent interview here.

Written and directed by Nina Atesh and Alexander Wright
Produced by Pither Productions in association with Proforca Theatre Company
Lighting design by Brett Kasza
Fight cheorgraphy by Joseph Emms
Tech operation by He (John) Zhang

Uncle Monty’s Antique Shop has completed its current run at Lion and Unicorn Theatre. HERE | FOR 2026 continues until Saturday 7 November.