David Harrower’s haunting Knives in Hens, which lasts 90-minutes and is acted without interval, is strictly for serious theatregoers who are prepared to make an effort. There are just three characters, medieval peasants: an ignorant ploughman, his superstitious wife and a widowed miller, who can read and write. The language they speak, stripped right back, is spare, poetic, archaic and muscular.
The trio seem to be taking part in some earthy and violent ritual, re-enacting some ancient myth, a timeless fable of lust and murder. Yael Farber’s production, excellently acted by Christian Cooke, Judith Roddy and Matt Ryan, is notable for its physicality and rawness. Soutra Gilmour’s setting, powerfully lit by Tim Lutkin, is notable for its darkness and starkness. The awesomely large grey rolling millstone could be some primal idol.