This is one of those plays which are difficult to write about without revealing too much of the plot. A group of teenagers do something unspeakable and try to cover it up by framing someone else. But this is not simply an entertaining thriller, though it certainly entertains and thrills – and generates a few black laughs along the way.

The play is a realistic and penetrating depiction of group psychology; it's about the way we all, not just young people, behave in an in-group even when we haven't particularly transgressed.

Playwright Dennis Kelly has come up with a script at times taut and sharply cinematic, sometimes poetic. When someone comes on and says in fluent Soapish "We've got to talk!" you know it's not just a lapse into bad writing: it's the way some soap-influenced people actually speak for real.

This is a fine production. Director/Designer Anthony Banks brings in some first-class back projection to facilitate scene changes as crisp and cinematic as the script. And some penetrating background music (Alex Baranowski) is effectively used to heighten the tension.

Most importantly, Banks deploys eight fine young actors, all playing a bit below their ages.

James Alexandrou is first-rate as the terrifying ring-leader and ritual eater aptly named Phil. Leah Brotherhead is Leah, some of whose moral sense seems to remain intact, and Tom Clegg, in more than one role, is splendid with a significant speech near the end.

It's clear the Hull Truck Company is on form with this one.

Alan Geary

DNA is at the Lakeside Arts Centre till Tuesday 21st February