Lost Atoms is a quietly powerful reminder of what Frantic Assembly do best when they strip everything back. This is a refined, carefully crafted piece of theatre that places story, connection, and emotional truth at its core, carried by two performers working with extraordinary precision and generosity.

Performed by Joe Layton and Hannah Sinclair Robinson, the production follows a couple navigating love, memory, loss, and time. The script is deceptively simple, unfolding with clarity and control, yet offering enough twists and emotional shifts to keep the audience deeply invested.

What is particularly striking is the honesty of the storytelling. The show does not shy away from difficult personal experiences, including miscarriage, and treats them with sensitivity and directness rather than talking around them. It is refreshing and important to see such subjects placed centre stage without apology. These are experiences many people carry quietly, often with shame that has no reason to exist. Lost Atoms allows space for recognition, for shared understanding, and for empathy, and in doing so gives the audience permission to acknowledge those moments too.

The connection between the two performers is central to the piece’s success. Layton and Sinclair move with absolute trust in one another, their physical language as articulate as the spoken text. This is physical theatre that serves the story, not the other way around.

The set is beautifully minimal and exactly right. It invites the imagination rather than dictating it, and there is something playful in its simplicity. Less really is more here.

Frantic Assembly often find themselves burdened with a particular reputation. For many, their name triggers memories of GCSE drama lessons and overused techniques, much like certain set texts in English literature prompt an automatic groan. But Lost Atoms pushes back against that narrow perception. This is not a company churning out material simply to introduce students to physical theatre vocabulary. Frantic Assembly are storytellers— theatre-makers who continue to push forward, crafting work with emotional intelligence and relevance.

Jack Maurice