The Fortune Theatre's new play bursts on to the stage as riotously as its title promises - but it would be a mistake to expect Punk Rock to be any sort of musical.
When newcomer Lilly, confident but brittle, joins senior students hanging out in a school library, she quickly disturbs the group's equilibrium.
These are intelligent, articulate 17-year-olds at an English fee-paying school and their futures seem bright.
Under the surface, though, all is not well and complicated relationships, parental expectations, exam terrors, sexual anxieties, bullying and fear of societal and environmental decay combine to produce a state of mounting tension in which something horrifying can, and does, happen.
Award-winning Simon Stephens is one of Britain's sharpest playwrights.
Like his other plays, Punk Rock uncompromisingly dissects modern society.
The Fortune's production, directed by Lara Macgregor, is the result of a successful collaboration with the University of Otago's theatre studies programme, which has provided some of the actors and six backstage interns.
The eight parts are distinctive and challenging, requiring Midlands accents and perfect timing, and every performance is brilliant and finely nuanced: Ripeka Templeton as self-harming Lilly, Jared Kirkwood as charming but insecure William, Taylor Barrett as domineering Bennett, Hamish Annan as tormented Chadwick, delivering a withering state-of-the-world jeremiad, Andrew Coshan as Nicholas, Ailis Oliver Kerby as Cissy, Lana Walters as Tanya, Sinead Fitzgerald as Lucy and Ross Johnston as Dr Richard Harvey.
Martin Robert's set brings back school as we all remember it (the lockers, the radiators, the door closers) and in the play's last minutes turns suddenly and unexpectedly into something else.
Punk Rock is topical, shocking and unforgettable.
Language and events make it unsuitable for children, younger teenagers or anyone who is easily upset.
For everyone else and especially those interested in serious contemporary drama, I strongly recommend it.
• Barbara Frame