Storehouse at Deptford Storehouse
Welcome to Storehouse, where truth lies. The premise of this immersive play, conceived by Liana Patarkatsishvili, is intriguing to say the least: since 1983, when the internet was created, four truth-seekers began cataloguing all the world’s data. For 42 years, this information – its scale impossible for the human mind to grasp – has been housed in an underground archive. Every tweet, every repost, every Instagram picture ever shared. The ultimate goal was to bring truth to humanity, to end all wars, conflicts, and the political shenanigans we are all too familiar with. The deadline for the experiment to succeed has, unfortunately, passed.
Despite the recent death of their beloved boss and last living founder, Storehouse’s employees still live and work in the underground archive, not having seen the sun in 42 years. There are three teams: the bookbinders, the caretakers and the stackers. As this is an interactive play, the audience also has a role: trustees, in whose hands the future of the whole project lies.
The tour starts in the bookbinding quarters, where Andie (Dawn Butler) explains the (slow) process of processing data, using a special lamp to reveal distorted truths. And, spoiler alert, our digital world is chock-full of them. Anxious but charming, Butler does a good job of making her character compelling and interesting enough for the audience to want to spend time with her, and care about her fate. She is one of the few memorable aspects of the entire play.
Despite the scale of the project, the impressive set designs and the intricate lingo, the experience is not too dissimilar from dining in an opulent room with someone who says nothing wrong, but nothing particularly new or insightful either. Nothing the audience will not already be familiar with.
Walking through the different rooms, the trustees hear the voices of Toby Jones, Meera Syal, Billy Howle and Kathryn Hunter, while occasionally being involved in making puzzles, taking notes and revealing UV writing on the walls. Small tasks that entertain for only a very short time.
The play’s greatest flaw lies in its writing: the storylines are not strong enough to hold it all together. In the end, the ploys and inner conflicts are revealed and resolved in a deeply unsatisfactory way. The plot would have benefited from more tension and a real sense of danger, focusing on one or two themes – one can assume the several writers simply could not agree on a topic or social issue to tackle. The result is a poorly laid-out buffet of words.
That we live in a world where politicians lie and reality is manipulated constantly is nothing new. Take the very timely AI discourse, for instance. Storehouse, with its spectacular lighting and sound design (Ben Donoghue and James Bulley), adds nothing new to those conversations. At the end of a play or show, one should leave having learned something, or having changed in some way. Despite its potential and intriguing premise, the play lacks the soul necessary for that to happen.
While it takes the audience deep into an elaborate underground world, the writing remains on the surface.
Benedetta Mancusi
Photo: Helen Murray
Storehouse is at Deptford Storehouse until 20th September 2025. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.
Watch the trailer for Storehouse here:
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