Blood on Your Hands had its first run at a scratch night at The Greenhouse Theatre last summer and even then, with just the first and final scenes, it was a captivating piece. Fast forward nine months to a full iteration of the piece at the Cockpit Theatre.

Kazimir and Dan are two abattoir workers from highly different backgrounds, who forge a friendship in the face of this traumatising work. They must both contend with a challenging HR department, Dan is faced with his vegan activist ex-girlfriend, whilst Kazimir, a trained veterinarian, faces the heartbreak of trying to earn enough to bring his family here from Poland. 

The stars of the show are Phil Jones and Leyon Stolz-Hunter who storm through the piece with performances of great nuance and truth. Leyon as the Ukrainian immigrant Kazimir beautifully captures the human struggle facing immigrants all over the world. Stolz-Hunter is naturally funny and can have you laughing one moment and crying the next. The relationship between the pair is organic and fills the stage creating some of the play’s best moments. The script is wonderfully written and allowed to pair to explore a beautiful friendship built on shared struggles but, ultimately, empathy. Jones, playing Dan Taylor, has a skilful self-awareness onstage, able to be incredibly truthful, creating a four-dimensional performance in the way that he handles his character’s mental health struggles. 

The Cockpit is a black box space with seating on three sides and the production uses all four entrances well. Energy is high throughout, and the back wall is well utilised with a huge projection screen. This has the greatest effect when it creates the atmosphere of the abattoir, in a well-crafted and directed montage on the ‘kill floor’. In fact, Anastasia Bunce’s direction really allows each character’s journey to unfold and take focus concurrently. Between her direction and Grace Joy Howarth’s writing, we are able to get a strong picture of the main characters’ life experiences prior to the present, which gives the piece depth. If the production was to be workshopped further, it would be great to have the back stories portrayed in more detail as Dan and Kazimir’s respective personal relationships feel fleetingly explored at times, as if the production is facing time constraints. 

Tackling a number of themes including veganism, capitalism, immigration, mental health – particularly of those working in this aspect of the food industry – all within 90 minutes, lead to some subject matters feeling a little underdeveloped and distracting. Perhaps the most thought-provoking of these, and the theme given most emotional exploration on the page and in the scenes, is the mental health of those working within this industry. Whilst the struggles faced by Dan and Kazimir are clear, a sudden outburst from Fred Rawicz’s HR Manager in the final scene, opens up a new issue: the burden of middle management in such a setting, unable to instigate real change, bound by a capitalist society to simply make money and clear out the lockers of each employee who turns to suicide. Had the play been given the opportunity to just focus on this theme, within a broader context of this industry, these widely unexplored emotions would have been given the stage time they deserve, especially as they provide the most interesting aspects of the piece. 

Fred Rawicz multi-roled as various characters including Jacko, the cocky village-boy-turned-marketing-manager, back home for the weekend. This character is well written and used by Howarth. Whether we’re Jacko or Dan in this scenario, we can all relate to the divide between those of us who have moved out of home and into the big city, and those of us who stayed behind. In terms of the plot, it is a well-used device, even if the fight does seem to come out of nowhere. 

Megan Louise Wilson and Anastasia Aush complete the cast. Aush, in particular, gives a strong performance as Kazimir’s wife, waiting to join him from Poland with their four children. It’s a well navigated journey but the chemistry between Nina and Kazimir is somewhat overshadowed by the chemistry and bromance between Dan and Kazimir. 

Ultimately, the direction and performances are skilfully and impressively executed and it’s captivating to watch. This play deserves a strong future but could definitely benefit from focusing in on one or two of those key themes alone. With a little refinement, it could be gold!

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Eliza Harris