Review: The Étienne Sisters and dirty butterfly BOVTS

29/05/2026 editorial

★★★★★

A double bill of plays with some truly exceptional theatre

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School’s Summer Festival 2026 is in full swing. It sees 8 plays being staged as a double bill over four weeks. A further Graduate Exhibition for the design courses takes place at Sparks Bristol from 01 – 04 July.

From 28 – 30 May, we have The Étienne Sisters and dirty butterfly at The Weston Studio of Bristol Old Vic. The pair of three-hander plays are well matched. The first, a play with songs, is a journey of grief, family and sisterhood. The second a taut piece of theatre exploring darker themes of domestic violence, voyeurism and the complicity of inaction.

Photography: (c) Shot By Dot
Centre image L-R: Mirelle Gipson, Akua Mensah and Tobi Grace

The Étienne Sisters by Ché Walker, is a play with songs. It brings together three sisters in the aftermath of their mother’s death. Throughout the piece is the search for identity, shifting power and what a new future for the sisterhood will look like.

A grave marker sits on a simple raised triangular staging prism. Triangles are the strongest shape. It sits at the heart of the stage throughout, representing the strength of the sisters as well as the shifting power dynamics between them.

Ché Walker writes in London street slang. The dialogue is both rhythmic and poetic. It yields plenty of humour and flows at an animated pace.

Tree (Akua Mensah) and Ree (Mirelle Gipson) are deeply mourning the loss of their mother. At the wake, Tree maintains dignity with her mourning. That’s all blown out of the window when Bo (Tobi Grace) arrives into their lives like a whirlwind.

Bo is the fun half sister, a relationship distinction that the play makes. Tree is fed up with the chaotic mess that Bo brings. She’s especially concerned about her influence on Ree. Ree might actually be the oldest sister, but she has a self preserving layer of naivety. This leaves Tree rightly or wrongly assuming a caring role above her.

Bo might be fun, but within minutes she’s manipulated her way into her sisters’ home, made one give up a bedroom and accidentally revealed she pinched a special piece of her stepmum’s jewellery some years back.

The mystery of a family holiday to the Scottish coast hangs in the air. An event seen differently through the eyes of each sister.

Through the story, old grudges rise to the surface. Familial trauma is revealed. And, the consequences of Bo’s lifestyle puts the family in danger.

Walker’s writing feels a bit rushed at times. The setting up for a dramatic turn and the arrival of a negative presence comes with nifty staging and Sam Stacey’s lighting design. The resolution to this feels a bit too quickly and tidily wound up. As does the future building and tying up of loose ends.

Director Elena Wolfson keeps the action lively. She also expertly handles Walker’s rushed moments, giving the play the time it needs to breathe towards the end.

The fabulous cast portray the exact dynamics you would find between a real group of sisters. The natural ups and downs, the fun and the upsets. The Multicultural London English has a rich flow, delighting the audience both with its wit, creativity and the actors’ delivery.

The songs in this production are performed a cappella. Some work, some don’t, but the final one with the boat lands. It creates a warm and gentle end filled with closure and hope.

The Étienne Sisters is ultimately an uplifting piece of theatre that’s full of heart and love.

dirty butterfly bristol old vic theatre — Photography: (c) Shot By Dot
Centre image L-R: Nathaniel Abdo, Violet Harvey and Elise Ria Harrison

Photography: (c) Shot By Dot
Centre image L-R: Nathaniel Abdo, Violet Harvey and Elise Ria Harrison

dirty butterfly by debbie tucker green, is a taut piece of theatre exploring themes of domestic abuse and voyeurism.

It’s also about the complicity of those who are wearied by ongoing cycles of violence and choose to ignore.

There are the likes of Jason, whose obsessive listening has crossed a line from morbid curiosity to something far more inappropriate. He falls asleep at night, ear and back pressed up against the wall.

Then there is us the audience, caught as voyeur, complicit in our inaction and watching for entertainment.

The three neighbours are connected by the paper thin walls in a block of maisonettes. Presumably those new builds built on the cheap with hope, prayers and plasterboard walls. Yet while the neighbours have that connection, their lives are isolated and solitary.

Each night, two neighbours are subjected to the sounds of domestic abuse seeping into their homes.

Jo is in bed, too terrified to move a single muscle despite desperately needing the toilet. She doesn’t want to wake her husband. She knows what will happen. It might even be her last day today. She knows it’s coming.

Jason is visibly unwell due to his obsession with listening at the wall. He can’t concentrate or focus through the shifting dialogue. He’s played by Nathaniel Abdo. His performance is that of a desperate addict.

Amelia tries to escape the noise from her neighbour’s bedroom by sleeping on the couch downstairs.

At one point she was friends with Jason. But the violence from next door has taken its toll and damaged their friendship.

For those who live in flats, the audible screams and shouting, blood smeared through communal areas, the blue lights flashing at 1am can absolutely be a real thing. That neither neighbour phones the police makes them horrifically complicit with their inaction.

However, the weight of being witness to constant violence should not be underestimated. It is all too possible to become immune to even extreme violence, especially in areas such as inner city Bristol, where it become part of the everyday.

We feel the weight of this in Elise Ria Harrison’s performance of Amelia. At lighter moments she dances or is it more of an escape? She has become ground down, likely sleep deprived, and not only sleeps on the sofa to escape but now washes at the kitchen sink.

Liv Jackson’s design sees the moving and interchanging of a door frame and two full length windows swirling on stage. They are watching eyes. For stepping in and out of the action.

Micha Mirto’s direction keeps the lyricism of the text flowing between the three as it moves at pace. She gradually builds the tension on top, holding it there. This gives us a gripping piece of theatre which builds to a truly harrowing conclusion.

There is no on stage violence, but we feel it through Will Muir’s sound design. The gentle drip of the tap in the background, the crackling of Dawn Penn’s vocals on the radio. It gives way to discordant sound.

dirty butterfly is the kind of play that content warnings were invented for. Violet Harvey’s performance of Jo was exceptional, truly exceptional.

The performance warranted some quiet reflection in the auditorium afterwards. It had clearly affected members of the audience. It seems somewhat of a theatrical rarity to so shock your audience into silence. It’s impressive that it comes from a group of creatives and excellent cast who are only at the very start of their careers.

The cast and crew worked with Woman’s Aid to navigate the themes in the play. This was evident from the interpretation of the play and depth of the production. Anyone with lived experience of coercive control and domestic abuse will know if they’re being cosplayed. This production captured the claustrophobic feel of inner city living pushed up against brutal violence.

dirty butterfly is not the easiest of plays to watch. It’s one that demands and deserves our attention. This production expertly handles everything debbie tucker green has thrown at it, making it one to watch.

The Étienne Sisters and dirty butterfly double bill is on in the Weston Studio of Bristol Old Vic until 30 May 2026

For more information or to book, visit: https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/the-etienne-sisters-dirty-butterfly

Cast and Creatives
The Étienne Sisters is written by Ché Walker
Directed by Elena Wolfson
Designed by Alexandra Hall

Tree – Akua Mensah
Ree – Mirelle Gipson
Bo – Tobi Grace
Understudy – Lorna Muriungi

dirty butterfly is written by debbie tucker green
Directed by Micha Mirto
Design by Liv Jackson

Jo – Violet Harvey
Amelia – Elise Ria Harrison
Jason – Nathaniel Abdo

Featured Image and Photography: (c) Shot By Dot