Two men meet in an abattoir and become friends, while the world outside is in tumult. Russia is rounding on Ukraine and stands on the brink of war. Closer to home, animal rights activists round on the men, as they punch in for another day of grimy, factory floor killing, to tell them that “Meat Is Murder”.
The friendship between Welsh-born chatterbox Dan (Phillip John Jones) and laconic Ukrainian migrant Kostyantyn (Shannon Smith) builds nonetheless, but we see how little ability they have to change their lives in Grace Joy Howarth’s play. For a while, the soul-destroying work in the slaughterhouse seems to be the play’s focus. There is a corporate tyrant of a boss (Jordan El-Balawi) and the dull trauma of the job itself. It begins to tread similar ground to Alexander Zeldin’s powerful play Beyond Caring, which is set in a meat factory.
