Chop, Dissolve, Burn - Alphabetti Theatre Review

★ ★ ★ ★

Reviewer -Stacy

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review

How society views disability is a poignant topic to bring to the table....and Chop, Dissolve, Burn achieves this, with a richly layered piece, that is filled with realism and dark humour.

Rose and Pete are brought back together by a dark event. Something that will either destroy their relationship or bring it back to its former glory. There is a sweet love story at the heart of this new writing piece at Alphabetti Theatre, one that has many trips and traps along the way.

The writing, by Lisette Auton and Richard Boggie, brings the reality and frustrations of life wonderfully to the stage. A struggled life facing a disabled person, at the hands of a flawed and broken society, which is offset by plenty of witty humour and dark comedy. The comedy contained a swear word… or twenty, but for me it added to the humour and didn't feel false or unnecessary in the slightest.

I applaud the fact that the jokes poked fun at the situation and topic. However, at times we were knee deep in the same joke - so I feel comedy spacing of some jokes were needed to even the balance out a little better.

News bulletins with shocking statistics weave seamlessly through the narrative, to hit home brutal facts consisting of sexual assault and the impact Covid had on the disabled community. These bulletins were comical and sarcastic in equal measure to hammer the vivid messages home.

The roles of Rose (Helen Fox) and Pete (Steven George) were performed with purpose and attention to detail. Their comedy timing stayed mainly in time and they carried the humour, horrors, and subtle nuances of the piece very well. Zoe Lambert and Matt Jamie provided the voiceovers that brought many a chuckle out into the open, which for me, was a superb addition to the piece.
The show has taken great care to make it accessible for everyone, with captioning, integrated audio description, touch tours, and one of the best BSL interpreters I've ever had the joy of watching. Sue Lee's physical comedy brought an additional layer to the whole piece as she was cleverly integrated in and around the action. I felt I had to, on occasion… consciously pull my focus away from her, to watch the story unfold, as she has this magical ability to pull you in with her comical abilities.

Chop, Dissolve, Burn is perfectly flawed and infectious. It brings crucial topics to the forefront with brutal comedy that will keep you laughing all the way home.