A Butcher Of Distinction

A Butcher of Distinction is well worth a trip out of the comfort zone. The theatre is small, artist run and on the fifth-floor of a thoroughly urban building on a quiet part of Elizabeth Street in Surry Hills. The play is gleefully dark and completely compelling as it explores unexpected and horrifically colourful recesses of the human mind. The play is by Rob Hayes, an English playwright, and all the action takes place in a basement flat below a pub in London. Following the suicide of their father, Hugo and Hartley, two brothers from the mid west of England, have found his big city flat. As they sort through his possessions, it becomes clear to the apparently innocent, rural brothers that their father kept big city secrets. Things start to spiral out of control when one of those secrets comes knocking on the door. Director James Dalton and his team clearly relish the material provided by Hayes and their enthusiasm is contagious. The stage design successfully turns the small theatre space into a pipe-cluttered basement that becomes a sordid den for the characters' descent. Actors Heath Ivey-Law and Liam Nunan, Hartley and Hugo respectively, never resort to easy English-accented caricatures. The very English elements of the play will be less relevant for Sydneysiders, but A Butcher Of Distinction is still a hell of a ride.

Old 505 Theatre to Sunday 26 May