Theatre Company
WELCOME TO THE KITCHEN
WHERE DREAMS COME TO DIE
After working in a basement kitchen for as long as they can remember, Master Sausage only knows one thing. Eat, sleep, sausage, repeat. Trying to appease the greed of their faceless employers, the Top Steps, they work relentlessly and cannot imagine their life beyond the butchery.
But when a babbling, fresh-faced Apprentice arrives, a harsh reality is brought with them. With their daily routine disrupted, the Master is forced to look their life in the eye and climb into the belly of the beast. As tensions rise, sinister questions rear their heads. What does it mean to be happy? Is there more to life than this? What’s in those sausages anyway?
Featuring dynamic physical theatre, a pitch-black comedic script and a killer soundtrack, this blood-thirsty absurdist horror is about challenging tradition, surviving in a cut-throat world and doing what has to be done… Have you got the guts?
REVIEWS
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“BUTCHERED truly is an example of handcrafted skill to the highest level.”
Binge Fringe
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“BUTCHERED takes its audience into an absurdist descent of meat and madness.
A fringe gem.”
Broadway Baby​
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★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“A clever, macabre tale of survival, splattered with humour and absurdism.
A wonderfully gory story!”
West End Best Friend
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★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Unmissable!"
Everything Theatre
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★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“Powerful, moving and thrillingly gruesome.”
Fringebiscuit
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★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Expial Atrocious hit it out of the park with BUTCHERED...
their bizarre, weird, and darkly humorous play is visionary.
The New Current
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PAST TOURS
BUTCHERED has previously toured to:
​2022
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8th, 10th, 12th August - Greenside, Edinburgh Fringe
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24th-25th September - Bread & Roses Theatre, Clapham Fringe
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26th September - The Coach House Theatre, Malvern
2023
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28th-29th January - VAULT Festival, London
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14th-15th June - The Loco Klub, Bristol
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24th July - The Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham
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3rd-20th August - Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe
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26th October - Rondo Theatre, Bath
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29th October - Old Red Lion Theatre (Grimfest), London
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30th October - Greenwich Theatre, London
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5th-7th November - Cheltenham Playhouse, Cheltenham
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9th November - Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton
PAST PROJECTS
hear. speak. see.
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Dinner with strangers is always awkward, especially when you’re the guest of honour.
You are cordially invited to the dinner party of your life. The dress code is “come as you are”. Secrets and all. Pour yourself into this twisted tale, relish in a new form of dynamic storytelling and devour this experience from a new perspective.
We only ask that you make yourself at home, keep your elbows off the table and be who you say you are. ‘Hear. Speak. See.’ is a brand new immersive drama by Expial Atrocious… and we’ve saved you a seat.
Hear. Speak. See. premiered at 2021's digital Edinburgh Fringe Festival and received high praise from audiences and reviewers. Created in about 2 months, filmed during the hottest week of the year on an iPhone 7, with many scenes filmed in one take, it's safe to say we are incredibly proud of this piece. This was our first 'big' show as a company and we couldn't be happier with how it turned out. It's weird, immersive and insanely aesthetic.
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★ ★ ★ ★
"A truly riveting, curious and intriguing show, which will have you gripped from start to finish."
West End Best Friend
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★ ★ ★ ★
"Off-kilter from the outset, Expial Atrocious skilfully unsettles and intrigues in a dynamic, immersive performance that expertly exploits the digital medium. Absurdist elements accent the well-paced unravelling of a mystery that packs an unexpected emotional punch."
FringeBiscuit
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★ ★ ★ ★
"If you’re in the mood for mystery, and psychological horror, you won’t find many more innovative and clever pieces this year in online-Edinburgh. I can’t wait to see what they do next."
EdFringe Review
REVIEWS
Window Observations
Have you ever felt so trapped in your present that you look to others to escape it?
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After turning her lockdown life around, N. J. Lawton’s new one-act play Window Observations is about looking to an unsuspecting source for inspiration during a time of national crisis. Three nameless women in quarantine take a break from their neglected routines to look out of their windows and narrate the lives of others on the other sides of the glass.
As the women’s stories start to link and they see the things they think nobody else can, their detailed descriptions begin to intertwine and soon, the audience can see them too. Written to be performed on camera, Window Observations was created about isolation, in a time of isolation. The play showcases how taking the time to pause, breathe and look can make you realise more things than you may have thought possible.
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Available to watch on YouTube below: