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Scatter: A Horror Play 4.5**** - One4Review
one4review | On 07, Aug 2025
I don’t like horror — but Scatter blew my socks off.
A compelling, horrific story told with elegant pacing, confidence, and clarity.
It begins simply: a young man, a chair, and a backlight. Calm, earnest, and completely relatable, he sits down and starts talking about his father. I initially imagined he was speaking to a friend or therapist.
There’s warmth, humour, and the particular emotional lumps that come with real family. All told with charm. Gradually, something shifts. The story widens.
What starts as a personal recollection begins to slide into something stranger, darker, and more unreal — but it never lost its grip on me. I believed every word.
As the tale grows, the room tightens. By the halfway mark, it’s tenser than a middle-aged five-a-sider’s hamstring.
Every cue and effect serves the story. The brother’s voice, the shared journey, the crackling radio, the pub landlord — each piece adds weight.
Nothing is missing. Nothing is redundant. Nothing is confusing. Scatter is storytelling with surgical precision.
The brothers feel real and alive with minimal exposition. The tension creeps in slowly until the entire audience is locked in.
Every seat edge was occupied. I could feel it — no one moved.
The performance is exceptional. With just a chair, a voice, and a few lights and sound cues, Patrick McPherson builds an entire world — believable, immersive, and increasingly surreal.
A couple of quick plot jumps near the end hold it back from being a full five-star show.
None the less i desperately needed to know what would happen next – i wouldn’t have let you drag me out before the conclusion.
Scatter is elegant, eerie, and completely absorbing.
Horror for people who think they don’t like horror — masterful storytelling at its finest.
★★★★½
Reviewed by Sharpie
Underbelly Cowgate
15.40 (1hr)
Until 24 Aug (not 11)
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