SIREN THEATRE CO
Betty is a Butcher
Siren Theatre Co (Australia) presents
BETTY IS A BUTCHER
Premiere Production: The Flying Nun
28-29 May 2021
Sydney Fringe: MADE IN SYDNEY
4 - 9 September 2023
Adelaide Festival Fringe
1 - 17 March, 2024
Written and performed by Thomas Campbell
Dramaturg Robin McLeavy
Produced and Directed by Kate Gaul
Associate Producer Lily Hayman
Composer Nate Edmondson
Lighting Design Victor Kalka
Five characters, five reasons to live, an odyssey towards death.
A collage of memory, these characters jostle for existence in a theatrical phantasmagoria
BETTY IS A BUTCHER is a black comedy that captures the fragility and savagery of
relationships, the need for love and the power of family.
BETTY IS A BUTCHER explores what defines us and asks what power we have to shape our destiny.
An unmissable debut play written and performed by Thomas Campbell and directed by Kate Gaul,
BETTY IS A BUTCHER is filled with dark humour, pathos and unsettling personal narrative.
"Betty tells me that I’m a dog person, not a cat person and that if I was a cat person she wouldn’t look at me twice. She tells me she loves my stomach and I believe her. That she loves the sound of my snoring and when I toss and turn in bed she pretends she’s a convict on a ship travelling to Australia.
Betty cries tears of rainbow water.
Betty is a unicorn."
"It's rare to witness a performer so effortlessly teeter between the tender and the absurd but this is exactly what Thomas Campbell does in Betty is a Butcher - a deeply personal work that is laugh out loud funny, deeply uncomfortable, strangely familiar and often very moving. Thomas' 5 very different characters reflect on themes of family, grief and intergenerational trauma. Oh ... and cupcakes." Lauren Richardson
"Betty is a Butcher dishes up compelling performances and necessarily theatrical moments that are equal parts sophisticated and silly. It’s a joy. It’s a little disturbing. It’s worth seeing." Nick Atkins, Director New Work Penrith Performing & Visual Arts
"A sublime, brutal waltz into a complex tapestry of humanity from the deep heart and warped mind of transmutable artiste Thomas Campbell. Firmly guided by the assured and effervescent gaze of director Kate Gaul, Betty is a Butcher is equal part love song and devastating sabre strike, where one emerges grateful for existence and in awe of difference." Eliza Logan
"Betty is a Butcher's complex and deeply suffering characters evoke emotions from laughter to intense discomfort. Whatever happens next is unexpected but exactly what needs to happen." Katherine Allen
“Campbell’s performance alone makes the production a near-unmissable one.”
Bill Dunlop, Edinburgh Guide
“…the connection between Campbell’s performance and Gaul’s vision which makes for a rare
and compelling theatrical experience.” Ben Neutze, Crikey
“When one performer on a stage can make you forget there is only one performer on the stage,
you know you have something special on your hands” Lisa Thatcher, Theatre Blog
Press quotations from 2017 Edinburgh Fringe production of Misterman
Thomas Campbell performs BETTY IS A BUTCHER at The Flying Nun 2021
Developed with the generous support of Q Theatre | Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre and The Flying Nun program of Brand X
