Showing @ Whitespace, Edinburgh until Sat 3 Mar

There’s a lot of attention on young people at the minute: unemployment is rife, university fees have tripled and placement schemes are slowly evaporating. Naturally, there’s an ideological foundation behind it all, and Michael Shand’s new play attempts to tackle this fiercely relevant and troublesome topic.

Facing a fairly light community service sentence, young lads Kenny and Darren (Matt Robertson and James McIvor) turn up at a small garden centre for work. But with ex-con Archie (Robert Howat) as their boss, who once served time with Kenny’s father, vendettas and heated arguments soon break the already fragile situation.

What’s so rewarding about the Whitespace venue is that it acts as a tabula rasa for theatre-makers. Its bare, destitute appearance stands somewhere between studio space and underground bunker; Shand makes good work of it by installing a simple but effective synthetic greenhouse with soil and earth brushed across the floor. What becomes clear as the piece progresses, and is actually the most penetrating aspect, is how Archie turns this environment into a prison. Shouting and patronising (though perhaps a little too much, he sometimes comes across as a bit of a pantomime “villain”), he belittles the protagonists with imposing explanations of evolution, punishment and justice. Really, Shand is lashing out at society here. There are occasional, jokey retorts which soften the political message lurking beneath the script but Shand is suggesting that knowledge isn’t reserved for the elite and can be unlocked by those who desire it. He’s driving at a profound message, of how we view working-class intellectualism, and should be applauded for the skill with which he weaves it into his play.

But this means the show does become slightly wordy and the characters are often trapped in the philosophical exchanges (Kenny rages against stereotype when he claims that ‘presumption is what leads to division in this system’). Clearly Shand has attempted to create characters who appear predictable yet have much to offer society, indicating his desire to challenge the current social system and hardening his observation of our prescriptive attitudes towards the young. Robertson and McIvor’s impressively lively performances do lighten the load but Shand could do with a gentler touch on the overall reflective comments he is making as it just feels like he’s still finding his theatrical voice. As with his 2011 play, Robin Red Breast, he is currently generating locations for characters to arrive at and have some grand conversation on their social background. Shand’s writing just needs to mature that little bit more before he can make the jump into truly deft, analytical playwriting – something which he undoubtedly will.

Contact Michael Shand at gravys01@hotmail.com or on 07810 396 100 to reserve tickets.

You can find out more about Shand’s company That’s Lunch Productions here.