Captured

Director Suzanna Ward and writer Jenna May Hobbs’ two-hander about a relationship snooped on by the camera lens, which magnifies male entitlement and consent, pulls on some tremendous political levers but shortchanges us on the drama.

Nurse Sophie (Gabrielle Nellis-Pain) and photographer Isaac (Liam Harkins)—once together, now split up—meet up one night to dredge through their past over a cheap bottle of wine. But their memories grate against each other: Isaac can’t see anything wrong with shooting photos of Sophie without her agreement and Sophie, rightly, feels exposed, vulnerable and invaded.

Nellis-Pain and Harkins give convincing performances that fizz with moments of defined, wounded honesty, and the text’s careful navigation of intimacy and exploitation is largely well judged. Aided by Alex Powell’s gorgeous, crisp photography—projected across slips of linen curtains—the piece is given room to breathe.

But it continues to strike a match that never fully ignites. Its dissection of the male gaze—problematically distorted and multiplied by this very review—is pushed frustratingly to the margins of the play’s dialogue. Too often, this necessary conversation is obscured by frayed observations about celebrity and tech culture that belong in the 1990s, and the provocation about how far men are willing to violate relationships to pursue their career (and call it “art”) fades.

The chance to deepen and complicate these characters’ relationship feels like a missed opportunity more than anything. The balance isn’t quite right, and we’re left waiting for that knockout blow.