Burnt Up Love
Finborough Theatre

CHE WALKER, who writes, directs and stars in Burnt Up Love at the Finborough is such an old hand as playwright, director and performer that we immediately know where we are. He knows what he’s setting out to do and delivers with confidence.

Mac is a prisoner, serving 20 years for murder. What keeps him going is his profound love for the daughter he last saw when she was three and a half. Her crumpled photograph on his wall is the light that illuminates the desperate darkness of cell life. And when he finally gets out, he goes to look for her.

The dramatic collision of dream with reality is inevitable. For, over the years, Mac has constructed in his mind a tale of social elevation and success for his girl. In the real world, however, the long arms of violence and the criminal underworld have reached far beyond the confines of his own cell, and they have mangled his daughter’s life as uncompromisingly as they have his own. Her attempt at a lesbian relationship with petty criminal Jayjayjay is doomed.  Even her name — Scratch — is hard and grating. No easy happy ending is on the cards when brutality and self-loathing are etched into Scratch’s psyche.