Ravenhill's penetrating dark comedy follows a trio of young Brits who sell drugs, sex, and what is left of their souls to survive. The story unfolds in a series of tightly compressed scenes and the dialogue is spare, atmospheric and ofen wickedly funny. Ravenhill plays comedy and ugliness against each other, drawing the audience in with laughter, then dousing them with the cold shock of brutality. What makes the piece so desolate, and at times so moving, is that there are glimpses of another world, ghosts of decency, kindness and beauty. There's an extraordinary moment when one of the characters, auditioning topless, recites Irina's speech from The Three Sisters , in which Chekhov's character looks forward to the day when humanity will be able to make sense of all its suffering.
People shop for sex just as they shop for clothes, drugs and food.