Brick ***

A man (Tiberius) lies sleeping on a mat. Another man (James) bursts into the room, railing against unseen antagonists. It’s now clear that they are in a police cell. When James’ rant eventually blows itself out, the story of how he comes to find himself incarcerated is slowly revealed.

James has been arrested at a protest. It seems that he didn’t mean to be here, perhaps the accidental birth of an anarchist. James had rather taken a shine to George, a customer in his bookshop, dazzled by his artistic endeavours and cool demeanour.

George was supposed to be at a protest and James decides to go along. Events take a turn, however, when James hurls a brick at a police officer and is duly arrested.

This is only a part of his backstory though. His sister has died, inferentially at the hands of a violent partner. They had been close and James is now a little rudderless. There is the sense that James doesn’t quite know who he is; he is not long out and seems uncertain of his place in the world, seemingly looking for a virtual stranger to define him.

James prowls the cell over an indeterminate, but clearly lengthy, time period, akin to a caged tiger, while garrulously revealing his story and inner thoughts.  Does he have a voice though? His cellmate steadfastly refuses to awaken and if the police are observing remotely, there is no interaction. His pain, mostly triggered by his sister’s untimely demise, iteratively emerges, leading to a stark and unexpected denouement.

Noah Xavier is a strong performer, who delivers a layered performance in Brick. There are myriad and prescient themes touched upon – protestor rights, LBTQ+ rights, domestic abuse, police culture, injustice, global inequality and culture wars.

This version of the production does not quite land, however. The repeated references to chess suggest that there is a long strategy in place here, yet the gaps in the storyline do not support this. James’ initial and immature storm of protest is at odds with the sense of an endgame and gives the performer a hill to climb to maintain energy. James’ final act in the holding cell is facilitated by materials gleaned from the sleeping Tiberius, which is simply implausible. A reconstruction of the script would enable a more cohesive throughline of the production to emerge and enable Xavier’s obvious performance abilities to flourish.

C Aurora studio, Lauriston St., until 30th August,