@ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 7 Mar 2015 and
@ Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, on Fri 5 Jun & Sat 6 Jun 2015 (dates unconfirmed)

It’s the sixth form student-run IT lab. This is what the nerdy, bullied kids (the ones, by their own admission, ‘not outgoing enough to fit in’) call MOE’s Bar which stands for means of escape. They are here in an effort to ‘break down barriers’ and practise ‘creative problem solving’ but really want to big up their hacking skills. When the cool kid in school humiliates one of the geek boys, it’s revenge of the nerds time. They hack into his medical records.

It’s the spidery arrival of the Beth (a poised and sly performance by Courtney Butler) which changes the dynamic. Why stop at cyber attack on the school bully when the likes of Google, Facebook and BT threaten to put everything you think and feel on a government database? It’s time to change the world.

Writer Ben Ockrent provides a sparky and thought-provoking script which asks if black hat hackers are no better than playground bullies. The Lyceum Youth Theatre performers pack a huge punch in this excellent, tightly-argued short play. Caitlin Mitchard as Pez the smartypants coder is especially good, as is Dougal Murray as Archie who doesn’t approve of the status of the group as self-appointed junta and sees that actions have consequences when his peers don’t. Director Christie O’Carroll marshals her well-cast charges superbly and drives the action straight on.

This ‘I share therefore I am’ generation and its solipsistic world of memes and selfies is cleverly contrasted with the bigger picture of justice, privacy, state spying and Edward Snowden’s WikiLeaks debacle.

Hacktivists will be part of National Theatre Connections at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre in June 2015.