Writer and Director: Mayuresh Mishra
Most people would probably agree that the purpose of theatre is to communicate something; sometimes it is a clear story, perhaps a political message or a reflection on the strangeness of human existence. Theatre doesn’t need to be linear or even necessarily make sense, but generally the theatremaker wants to communicate something to the audience. Mayuresh Mishra’s new play Stuck in Transit largely forgets this with a synopsis that bears little resemblance to the 60-minute piece playing at the Old Red Lion Theatre, in which the audience spends the vast majority of the running time watching actors engaged in ‘busywork’ that says very little.
It’s quite hard to describe what Stuck in Transit is actually about, and it begins with a long voiceover monologue about the importance of delivery boxes, parcel management and what happens when an item goes missing. Perhaps there will be an important metaphor in the play about people likened to these forgotten parcels and boxes, but as the first 10 minutes of the show are then given over to an unnamed man (Pietro Cannizzaro) soundlessly waking up, inexplicably leaving the stage to wash and then getting dressed, perhaps not. At this point, Mishra has given no indication of who this man is, his purpose or why it is dramatically necessary to watch him put together the set.
As he vacates, a naturalistic scenario takes its place in which a divorcing couple, Biz Lyon and Mark Parsons, reluctantly meet at their shared home to sign some papers related to their separation. Finally, we edge closer to the advertised synopsis, but while the actors busy themselves with laying out a picnic without really speaking to each other, Mishra doesn’t actually tell us much about them. The man, who we learn from the summary is called Christopher, speaks of being promoted, but his ex-wife Joyce’s role as a fashion photographer is never mentioned, as though Mishra has created this whole detailed world for his characters, but forgotten to tell us about it through the action of the play.
As drama, there is much potential in this scene, the antagonism that subsists between them, Christopher’s barely concealed coercion and evident anger issues, as well as Joyce’s wearied irritation with the man who literally makes a meal of it. But covering only about 15 minutes of the plot – including inexplicably again a semi-dressed Joyce getting ready first while talking to her new lover on the phone in more unexplained plot – the tension peaks too soon, Christopher’s reaction to Joyce’s new relationship too quick and too angry as the scene draws to a close.
What happens in the final and largest part of the play is different again; back to the man we met at the beginning, only this time the audience watches him clean up after Joyce, actually spending stage time meticulously sweeping, then washing the floor of the Old Red Lion stage as the baffled audience wonders where this is going now. No one can predict the Kujo-inspired finale and more unexplained violence, prolonged nudity and the smoking of a real cigarette (not included in the trigger warnings). What Stuck in Transit is about, who knows and describing it as physical theatre is a stretch, but if you want to save yourself the ticket price, you can watch yourself do some cleaning at home.
Reviewed on 8 April 2026
