Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff

Thurs 8-Sat 10 Dec

We are taught that prevention is better than the cure; common sense tells us that, to a large extent, this is true. Avoid alcohol and chances are you’ll live a longer

life. Stock up on vitamins and you’ll ultimately spend less time at the chemist’s. But when prevention moves far away from an apple a day, can we ever be said to take this rule too far? Indeed, as preventative measures develop from simple actions to a deliberate mutilation of the body, ‘a stitch in time’ certainly develops a horrifying second meaning.

In Butcher, new company Asking4It Productions explore why more and more women are turning to mastectomy (on healthy breasts) to up their odds in the battle against cancer. Focusing on individuals who have had a history of breast cancer within their family, Butcher interrogates the sensibilities behind these measures, and tests the treatment for its macabre, theatrical potential.

The production’s script was sketched out by writers Susan Jickells and Jane Fox, but ideas of discussion and debate have been key in fuelling and ornamenting this devised piece of musical theatre, with the company holding two discussion groups in October and November. Following this dynamic research, we are promised a “visually stunning, hilarious experience”, which borrows as much from the circus as from the laboratory and is set to be a cutting exploration of the intrinsic horror of preventative surgery. Tickets: £8-£12. Info: 029 2030 4400 / www.chapter.org (Amelia Forsbrook)