Writer Ian Rowlands says in the programme notes that his play, about the fallout from the sexual abuse of pupils by a teacher in the south Wales valleys, "tumbled out, almost fully formed". It feels like that, with the writing and performances marked by an intense fluidity and immensely focused energy. The first production from new Cardiff theatre company FAB is urgent, vital drama given a tender, vulnerable edge by the small cast. Sion Pritchard plays Si, the abused young man returning to his home town; Rhian Blythe is Kay, his first love; and Lisa Palfrey seethes beneath a calm facade as a bitterly disappointed wife and mother visiting her hospital-bound husband.
Scenes build quickly to moments of poignant tension and Rowlands is not afraid to throw humour into the darkest psychological nooks and crannies. Reliable dramatic staples - love, guilt, family dynamics - are given new twists in the shadow of shocking abuse, while Palfrey's revenge on her silent, once violent, husband shows just how cathartic retribution can be.
While the play's powerful ending may not come as a surprise, and the music used to amplify some scenes feels unnecessary, this is an impressive production, with coruscating writing building to a sustained howl of hurt and rage. The simple set, strewn with funeral flowers and dominated by a raised and tilted hospital bed like something out of a nightmare, quietly underlines the cruelty and grief that spills out in the space. "A few poxy minutes in a whole life," is what the good bits in Si's existence amount to, he says. This enthralling, sometimes uncomfortable, drama focuses an unremitting stare on the very worst of it.
· Until Thursday (029 2030 4400), then touring.
