An interesting setting and relatable characters, regrettably hamstrung by over-busy production
Blood On Your Hands is a new production from Patch Plays, exploring the impact of protesting vegan activists from the perspective of the meat industry’s “forgotten victims”: its workers. Kostyantyn (Shannon Smith) is a fish-out-of-water in more ways than one, having fled Ukraine in the face of impending conflict, forced to work as a slaughterhouse worker to raise enough money for his family to join him (despite being a trained vet in his native country). He’s scared and overwhelmed, but also funny and caring, making it easy to root for his success.
On his first day, Kostyantyn meets Dan (Phillip John Jones) – an experienced hand at the slaughterhouse – who takes the him under his wing. It’s Dan who teaches Kostyantyn to use moisturiser to mitigate against frequent handwashing, and to hide noise cancelling headphones under your PPE to block out the butchery (“scream like humans, don’t they”).
Although I was worried the play might be thinly-veiled vegan propaganda, Kostyantyn’s charisma and likeability ensure the audience empathises on both sides of the debate. And whilst it is true that the author’s position is very obvious by the time the curtain falls – what else would you expect from a play called Blood On Your Hands? – this doesn’t feel forced or get in the way of the wider narrative.
The play is at its best in its more intimate scenes – Kostyantyn and Dan snatching a conversation in the break room; Dan’s run-ins with his vegan activist ex; strained phonecalls with Kostyantyn’s wife (Kateryna Hryhorenko). Here, the skilful script and cast really shine, putting together a likeable and fleshed-out band of characters. The audience is further drawn into Kostyantyn’s life through expert sound-scaping and lighting, zooming into an often claustrophobic world.
Unfortunately, these intimate moments are often not given the time they need, and this is the biggest problem Blood On Your Hands faces: trying to get too much done in its 100 minute runtime. The narrative is laced with flashbacks and flashforwards, juxtaposed alongside news footage of Ukrainian conflict and vegan protests, which can overwhelm the audience as their attention is dragged in multiple directions. With a good editor, some flourishes could be stripped away to paint a more impactful picture.
Nowhere is this more evident than in a climactic slaughterhouse scene. With blood dripping onto the stage floor, and a real violence to the actor’s motions, this is a genuinely sinister scene. But the sense of dread is punctured as protest slogans are shouted in from outside the compound, which then mixes with glimpses of Kostyantyn’s wife back in Ukraine. The result is a scene equal to less than the sum of its parts, and what could have been a standout moment becomes a blurred mix of ideas competing for the audience’s attention.
Blood On Your Hands illuminates some interesting and important issues – from the exploitation of migrant workers, to the mental health of slaughterhouse employees – but things are never given enough time to breathe and realise their full impact. As a story of friendship overcoming adversity, Blood On Your Hands is a success, and it is a joy to see Kostyantyn and Dan become closer over the course of the play. But for Patch Plays’ loftier aims of promoting inspiration and reassurance surrounding animal welfare, this production falls a little flat.
All the ingredients are all here for a standout production, but they get lost in the shuffle as they jostle for attention. Blood On Your Hands plays at the Southwark Theatre Mondays to Saturdays until 3rd February, with Tuesday and Saturday Matinees