Two talents announce themselves to a wider public in the second production of the Royal Court's Young Writers' Festival.
The primary one is Alexandra Wood, whose delicate, crafted play marks her out as a rare thing for the Festival, a distinctive talent among the identikit hordes of young playwrights.
Barely secondary is director Natalie Abrahami who here proves that she has the ultimate director's gift, that ability to upgrade promising text into grandscale, unignorable theatre.
Set in an authoritarian dystopia, the play follows a bureaucrat's forced removal to a new capital city.
His progress is tracked through six pairs of characters who monitor him from initial misdemeanour to his self-hating acceptance of his new life.
Wood's voice is tense, gently colloquial and always looking for a joke. She seems to have absorbed Pinter.
The play unfolds as a series of exercises in powerplay, where the state's impositions are echoed in the familiar, small-scale interactions of its subjects.
A cleaner lords it over a teacher. A cart-driver requires his passenger expresses only correct opinions.
It's refreshing to see a "young" playwright dealing with something bigger than the usual "young" topics.
The bold direction increases the excitement. The set-changes, run by military stage-hands, add a buzz.
Only one ill-advised double casting confuses the story.
Abrahami has recently been appointed joint artistic director at the Gate, despite her inexperience. Big things beckon.
Until 10 March (020 7565 5000; www.royal courttheatre.com)
The Eleventh Capital
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs At The Royal Court
Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
