In Whitechapel, London, a series of brutal and bloody murders is confounding police. But this is not the 19th century, nor is Jack the Ripper the culprit. In 1985, Detective Richards is the man on the case of the Butterfly Butcher, a relentless and sadistic murderer and rapist who leaves no trace of himself behind. Can Richards get to the bottom of things, and will the toll on his mind, and home life leave him irrevocably changed?
Chasing Butterflies is a serial killer mystery play that feels like it’s taken direct inspiration from the likes of the David Fincher works, Se7en, Zodiac and Mindhunters, as well as a host of Netflix true-crime documentaries. It portrays the detective slowly losing the plot as he recounts the horrific crimes of the Butcher in between news reports and phone calls from his spouse and superior. Abraham Botha does some decent frantic work as the young detective, pacing around and tossing pages of reports and case files around with ever-building fury.
The trouble is, the play doesn’t quite manage to pull together the threads of what it’s trying to do. In part, this is down to the nature of the narrative being told, although some aspects come together better by the dénouement, but in an infuriating rather than a satisfying way. That’s not to say this is a terrible experience. Rather ironically, Chasing Butterflies feels like the pieces of a grand puzzle, but some of them have been jammed together incorrectly. Some setups don’t feel clearly paid off, and others seem to drop out of nowhere apropos of nothing where breadcrumbs would be better laid earlier on.
There were also some technical issues, with some clear errors with the light change timings, but additionally, some of them just didn’t seem to work correctly, with flashing red and blue lights that distracted with their low levels. This could be something that is to be refined as the show continues, but it was present and thus is worth noting already a week into its run at the time. Similarly, for all the frantic, ever-growing frustration and tension that Botha builds throughout, there was a bit of stumbling over words here and there.
All in all, a noble failure. With some judicious work and a hard rethink, this could be turned into something really quite good.