The Box Show

The Box Show certainly delivers on its title—there are a lot of boxes. Small ones with spray-painted graphics, a giant one on wheels that gets rolled around like a reluctant supermarket trolley, and even a bowl of water perched on top. Add a few bins and tubes and other household things that make sound, and you’ve got the set.

Things kick off with some light audience interaction and a made-up language exchange between the cast. Unfortunately, the nonsense chatter never really lands as comedy. Kids in the audience were repeatedly asking their parents, “What are they saying?”, and I don’t think the parents knew either.

When the cast lean into their musical numbers, the show suddenly comes alive. The live 'instruments' are loud but vibrant, and in those moments you catch glimpses of what the performance could be at its best. The problem is, those musical highs keep getting broken up by muddled storylines that go nowhere and a couple of random sketches that feel more like padding than purposeful theatre.

The lighting is serviceable, if unremarkable. Direction-wise, there are flashes of creativity, but the overall flow is confusing, like the show can’t quite decide what it wants to be. The sound design works well, but everything else feels weighed down by gimmicks and ideas that don’t connect.

In the end, there’s talent here—especially in the music—but it’s trapped in a production that’s trying too hard to be quirky instead of cohesive. At this year’s Fringe, you’ll find sharper, funnier, and more engaging kids’ shows without having to dig through quite so many cardboard distractions.