LOOSE Canon - that's the name of the company - brings to George Buchner's dark and savage portrayal of the human condition a fine intensity. Woyzeck is a poor bare forked animal driven by poverty, the proud man's contumely and a consuming sexual jealousy to an act of savagery. Much of this is delivered in William White's sparse and sharply honed direction.

As Woyzeck, Steve Nealon is a taut spring of suffering which must inevitably snap. Body and eye and voice combine to convey hairtrigger tension, which erupts into horror. He is supported by an able cast - in particular by Lesley Conroy, who captures Marie's vulnerable sensuality, and by Alex Johnston (as manic medic, who would grace any totalitarian regime).

Where the tension is dissipated is in a series of unnecessary blackouts. One cannot be murdered gruesomely and then be seen to creep off, and then creep back on to the stage. However awkward the City Arts space, there is room for imaginative reblocking and, even with relatively few lamps, for more continuity of light and action.