Mark Ravenhill exploded onto the international theatre scene in 1996 with the provocatively titled and spectacularly successful Shopping & F***ing.
The New Zealand premiere of Some Explicit Polaroids finds the playwright in a more reflective mood as he draws a stark contrast between the frenzied anti-Thatcher activism of the mid-80s and the ecstasy fuelled "happy world" of London's fringe culture in the closing years of the 20th Century.
As the title suggests there are plenty of X-rated moments but Director Phillip C Gordon has opted for a stripped back production that avoids sensationalism and focuses on the anaesthetised despair of characters who inhabit the shadowy margins of a world drifting towards disintegrating.
The play's political concerns centre on a somewhat dated debate about whether ecstasy and hedonism are preferable to anger and socialism but the production finds contemporary relevance in its haunting vision of a society that has lost all sense of direction.
The unconventional, emotional damaged characters provide plenty of opportunities for the talented cast. Robert Tripe neatly captures the bewilderment of a one-time anarchist returning to his old haunts after fifteen years in prison for politically motivated violence.
