Damaged in transit

Daniel Nelson 

Cargo

Image by Photo: Mark Douet

So will your understanding of who the quartet are, and in the case of the last of the four to appear, his motives. 

As you will have gleaned, playwright Tess Berry-Hart knows how to keep an audience guessing, which is particularly important when the production is restricted to the inside of a container aboard a ship in the Channel. Despite the stifling surroundings, she manages to pack some action as well as verbal sparring into the limited space.

The tension inherent in the refugees’ situation is exacerbated by the characters’ suspicions about each other’s positions in the civil war raging outside and is further ramped up by the poisonous gobbets of information about the violence they are trying to escape. Finally, a brutal, ruthless dystopia is laid before us.

It’s powerful stuff and, sitting on benches around the   small performing arena, you are kept guessing about the twists and turns of the plot.

But as the edgy alliances form and shatter you get to a point where the moral seems to be: everyone for themselves, which is depressing and, hopefully, untrue. You certainly get a disturbing picture of the rapid, life-changing decisions many refugees have to make without any firm information – including who to trust.

Equally disturbingly, you have to confront the possibility that violent extremist groups and their opponents may not always be foreign.

Post-show Q&As:

+ 20 July, with Calais Action, Help Refugees and Tess Berry-Hart

+ 27 July, with the Refugee Support Network and Migrant Support Network

* Cargo is at the Arcola Theatre, Ashwin Street, E8, until 6 August. Info: 7503 1646/ boxoffice@arcolatheatre.com