Blackout

A pale, wiry lad wakes up in a police cell and doesn't remember why he's there.

In order for us to find out, it's necessary to rewind – not just to the previous day, or week, or month. Instead, the young actors in this short, sharp and physical slice of a young offender's life hurl themselves back to one of the dinner-table brawls that characterised his childhood.

James is a boy in search of an identity. Tormented by his peers over his long hair and goth image, then left reeling by the death of his grandfather, he finds himself a new role: as a neo-nazi. He also acquires a sword.

Blackout charts the teenager's downward spiral without sentimentality, sketching out relationships and influences in an impressionistic style without pausing for reflection or hand-wringing. Pounding rock music drowns out the voices of James's arguing parents so the focus is on his haunted eyes, and video projections capture the urgency of his reinvention and the subsequent panic of realisation when things spin out of control.

Deservedly revived after a run at the 2010 Fringe, this production by director/choreographer Neil Bettles features an dynamic cast of emerging young actors who are tuned in to the pulse of Anderson's dialogue. It may not break any new ground, but this is a fresh, searching and stylish look at a life unravelled.