Inside the Box

My overall impression

I just got back from this show, and I can honestly say, out of all the shows I’ve ever seen in my entire life, “Inside the Box” is one of the worst.

The fact that this show has such positive reviews on here makes me wonder how far our standards have slipped.

Oh, where to begin…?

This show is a complete mess – from the terrible and redundant writing uttered by some of the most unsympathetic characters I’ve ever seen on stage – and when I say “seen on stage” I mean that in the loosest terms, as there was hardly anything compelling to see in the first place. I’ve never seen a show so poorly staged, with absolutely no exploration or relationship with or within the space itself.

“Relationship” is the key word here, as none of the characters had any sort of meaningful interaction with each other. These so-called characters were complete card-board cutouts stripped from some perverted and long-lost male fantasy. The female roles were incredibly mindless – sex-driven brainless psychopaths – one or all three – objectified and devoid of any sense of humanity or personality. The male characters, don’t even get me started – an endless series of wisecracks that fall flat, vaguely portraying some semblance of friendship between the three men, unified solely by the fact that they all live together, yet somehow know absolutely nothing about each other. Not a single moment was ever earned, developed, or wanted, as the poor writing crippled the show before the lights ever went up.

The writing was worse than I can convey here. The plot is completely without structure or purpose. A non-descript box arrives in the mail. The characters debate whether to open it or not as if that choice carries any weight, stakes, or meaning. And then they debate some more. And more. And on and on and on and still no one opens the box. And this is the entire plot.

Other than the box, I can not recall a single other action in the play. There are no stakes. The characters want nothing of significance. There’s no reason for anything to happen.

This show is an embarrassment to the Hollywood Fringe Festival. I feel sorry for the actors, as nothing here is really their fault. I felt their frustration with the show bleeding through their performance and that was really the only redeeming moment in this play.

At least I knew I wasn’t alone.