Rob Hayes’ villainously dark modern fairy-tale, A Butcher of Distinction, had a well-reviewed outing at the King’s Head Theatre a decade or so ago. This Autumn’s welcome new production at the Barons Court Theatre, directed by Macadie Amoroso, brings out the play’s air of haunting gothic menace to tremendous effect, aided by three impressive comic performances. There is not a huge amount going on beneath the surface here, but as a humorous contemporary rendering of Grimms’ Hansel and Gretel, with a predatory pimp taking the place of the wicked witch, it is deliciously compelling.
Country-born twins Hartley (Connor McCrory, nervous, bossy, and permanently on the edge of losing control) and Hugo (Joseph Ryan-Hughes, naïve innocence, fetchingly bedecked in country cords and shabby cricket jumper) find themselves orphaned, alone, and penniless, after their monstrous and abusive father seemingly shoots first his wife, and then himself. The boys make their way to dad’s secret London pied-à-terre, located in the dingy basement of a sinister London pub, with the aim of finding dad’s hidden wealth. What they find instead is menacing landlord Teddy (Ethan Reid, shady, intimidating, with splendid comic timing), who soon concludes the boys will serve as payment for services previously rendered to dad. As he says, “I provided your father with things money can’t buy. And now he’s left me the most priceless gift of all. His most precious possessions.”
The twin’s dawning realisation that that their father “had interests beyond Royal Hertfordshire” leads to a gruesome comic reckoning with Teddy. Of course, country folk are, in their own way, every bit as devious and depraved as their city equivalents, and the sleazy bordello landlord soon finds even the best laid of plans sometimes go awry. The twists and turns of Hayes’ tightly plotted narrative ensure the momentum never palls, and in the end, one cannot help concluding that these boys really are their father’s sons. The message here for city folk is, never trust a country butcher or goatherder, however gullible and simple they may seem.
Hayes cites Orton, Beckett, and Pinter as influences. There is certainly an air of Pinteresque comedy-of-menace in the general tone of the piece, and a fair few Ortonesque epigrams: “He was our father, we were his sons. It was a mutual arrangement we had.” But actually, TV influences feel more important here, particularly Roald Dahl’s Tales of The Unexpected or even surreal noughties sitcom League Of Gentlemen.
Amoroso’s direction provides plenty of blood and gore, and a creepy soundscape (also from Ethan Reid and Connor McCrory) creates an atmosphere of real dramatic menace. But in the end, it is the show’s comic, almost absurdist elements, that shine through most successfully.
Writer: Rob Hayes
Director: Macadie Amoroso
3 November 2022
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