Review: Blood, Tobacco Factory Theatres – ‘A gripping watch’

Blood by Catalan playwright Sergi Belbel is the latest performance and UK premiere of the script from the graduating Stage and Screen students from the Bristol School of Acting.

Since 2021, Tobacco Factory Theatres has become the natural home for students of this degree, with a trio of plays performed this summer season from the class, including Beautiful Thing by Jonathan Harvey and The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov.

A daunting tagline awaited me when researching the play: ‘Bound, hooded and tossed into a dark room, a woman waits for a visitor. Alone with just a guard for company, she seems to know how this plays out.’ From this, I knew what awaited me at the Tobacco Factory was probably a dark, potentially violent play that might be uncomfortable to watch.

But that was only somewhat true. Instead, this tale of a politician’s wife being kidnapped pivots from horrifying to downright farcical at times. From the get-go, The Woman (Aroob) treads the fine line between terror and comedy, as she goes from questioning her surroundings to explaining the absurdity of having to defecate on the side of the stage in front of one of her captors.

Each vignette the play travels through is the same, bringing elements of comedy and threading through the disturbing element of blood. Yes, a play called Blood has plenty of blood on offer. From small paper cuts and a pine-cone-related head wound to a bitten tongue causing blood to shoot all over two police officers, each scene is tinged with the red stuff. And the stains keep building until the last scene, where blood flows openly across the mosaic floor during the final monologue.

While the night is not free of small fluffs of dialogue and the occasional flutter of opening night nerves, each member of the cast gives a strong performance. The Lover’s (Shelena Artman) emotional breakdown after receiving a suspicious parcel is pitch-perfect to the strange situation, while The Boy (Peter Stables) awkwardly bumbling his way through a first encounter with a girl he shares a bench has the crowd nearly rolling on the floor laughing.

The staging is a triumph. At first, it is simply dressed with a slightly raised square stage piece above an astro-turfed ground, consisting of mosaic tiles bordered by drains – not unlike what you’d find in a changing room. While initially a dark and scary space, it is amazing how versatile the stage becomes with only a simple few changes.

Bright lighting instantly transforms it into a bench in a park shared by two young people reading, while a section of tile is later removed to give the illusion of the poolside of The Lover’s house. Simple yet multifunctional, it’s a great choice for the show.

Absurd, dark and slightly uncomfortable, Blood is a gripping watch where you’ll never expect what might happen next.

Blood – poster: Bristol School of Acting

Blood is at Tobacco Factory Theatres from July 6-8 at 8pm. Tickets are available at www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com.

All photos: Chelsey Cliff

Read more: Review: Youth’s The Season…?, Tobacco Factory Theatres  – ‘An impressive coming-of-age satire

Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast: