Barefaced Theatre Company made several smart choices about their first outing: they kept the production simple in setting, chose a piece that showcases the talents of their actors and opted for the work of a writer with a reputation for edgy, youthful scenarios.

Owen McCafferty's Mojo Mickybo made a splash in 1998; in Freefalling, we find the seeds of the physicality and friendship across class lines that formed the spine of the Northern playwright's later two-hander. As in Mojo, each actor plays several characters as the desperation of late-adolescent ennui tips into an extreme case of acting out.

A boy and a girl, fleeing from their respective crowds in a packed Friday-night city centre, meet in a park. Both are also fleeing the bigger pictures that define their lives: he has grown up in the inner city and works in a fast-food restaurant; she is a child of privilege, going to university and hating every minute of it. Both feel trapped, and when they happen upon each other, they need only the barest encouragement to trigger a chain of events.

Most of the play, as directed by Simon Manahan, exploits the physical talents of Tom O'Leary and Louise Lewis, and they inject refreshing energy into the duelling monologue by using their bodies as well as their voices to illustrate the narrative. This enlivening approach runs out of steam as the more conventional aspects of McCafferty's storytelling take hold. When the chips are down, we are left with less room for movement, but the actors do well and mine the more stationary moments for emotional depth.

Ends December 8th; book at 01-6703361