A placard “Meat is Murder” is propped up on stage. It’s Kostyantyn (a convincing Shannon Smith)’s first day at work in the slaughterhouse. Trial period; minimum wage.
A qualified vet in the Ukraine, that avenue of employment is closed to him in Wales. He has a wife, Nina (Kateryna Hryhorenko), and a child back home, with twins on the way.
Dan (Phillip John Jones, in a lovely, rounded performance), a long-time worker at the ‘death house’, befriends the new face, and we peek into their lives then and now, by flashbacks, calls, and breaktime banter.
The play, by Grace Joy Howarth, is ambitious and tries to cover a lot of ground in just 100 minutes. Her strong script keeps us invested in her main characters, believing in their connection.
We move from the break room at the workplace into past domestic life for both Dan and Kostyantyn, then into here and now. It’s easy enough to follow but perhaps leaves too many questions unanswered.
Director Anastasia Bunce captures some emotional moments in this busy and brooding play, notably highlighting Nina’s lack of understanding of her husband’s new life.
Outside the brutality of the “kill floor,” which we witness once in an extended and stylised scene, animal rights protesters hurl slogans and pass out leaflets.
One, Eden (Liv Jekyll), knew Dan from the past and the knowledge of his work plus a little Googling has turned her from chicken carnivore to virtuous vegan. That’s all we get to see about her.
The strongly effective set design (by Ahmet Buyukcinar) of white tiles and projection screen uses a lot of fake blood as it progresses, some uncomfortably near to the audience.
It seems to suggest that those who choose to work in such settings carry the blood of those they have killed wherever they go. Leaving your job at home isn’t an option.
The Araby Bazaar’s sound design is claustrophobic, inventive, and in one scene, horrific. But for a play and company like Patch Plays who wish to highlight the injustice of animal slaughter, Blood On Your Hands could be even more powerful..
Gestures of friendship assume monetary value alone in the hands of generic management, who have washed their hands of the filth and noise of dispatch and processing.
They are about soundbites alone (one such example played here by Jordan El-Balawi, who also reappears as Dan’s school bully in a strongly composed pub scene).
There’s a twist about one of the characters, but I guessed it too early, and by the end, the play felt unfinished, with a lot more to say.
There is more than one story here that deserves the room to breathe, but at the moment, the focus is not clear.
Blood On Your Hands continues as Southwark Playhouse Borough, Little, until 3 Feb. Tickets here.
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Image credit: Charles Fline