In two hours of real-time action played without interval, writer Angela Pressland shrewdly dribbles out her revelations in such a way as to make it difficult for the reviewer to say too much about the plot without spoiling it for later audiences.

But it covers a lot of ground, including teacher/student relationships, fantasy and reality, racism, fashion and today's craving for instant gratification.

The setting is a brothel where a middle-aged man, on his nervous first visit, encounters a confident not-quite-20 woman trying to pay her way through university.

Director Jacquie Penrose and an outstanding cast negotiate some tricky waters with skill – without over-statement but with natural feeling for the big emotional sequences as well as comedy.

Above all, Roger Wallsgrove and Charmaine Barker give the principal characters a fine mixture of anger and compassion – and it is arguably the sense of compassion that runs most potently through the play.

Melanie Cole and Callum West complete the cast.

» Until Saturday.