When you go to a show called "The Devoured", about the destruction of a family in the Holocaust you know it's not going to be easy-going. Even forewarned might not prepare you for this intense physical production which is challenging, particularly for its solo actor.
As we enter, a barefoot man in a ragged striped uniform is running on the spot almost shouting, over and over, "Run for the beast, run for the beast, run for the beast". Just as we start to think that this might be the show in its entirety, the lights dim and the man starts to tell his tale at breathless, breakneck speed.
The language is brutal, but almost poetic as it thunders with the metronomic rhythm of a train bound for Auschwitz - a kind of nightmarish Auden. "Fucking Jew, bang, bang, bang". In some systolic sympathy my heart beats faster.
The story becomes more narrative as he admonishes the audience for leaving his family to the bombing and the approaching German soldiers. The language and pace is relentless with lines piling on lines and repeating like a piece of music by Philip Glass.
He takes us onwards, inexorably through the ghetto, the transit, concentration and extermination camps, desperate to give his testimony, almost a confession of guilt that he had "done nothing, nothing, fucking nothing" - not acting, not saving his family, not dying.
There is probably nothing new to learn about the Holocaust here but we have the graphic added layer of the contempt and humiliation meted out along the way.
By the coda of the end the actor is exhausted, bathed in sweat, almost foaming at the mouth. It is, by any measure an extraordinary performance.
The repetition of a single line or action, which is intended to give insight into the character at different stages of his journey, is sometimes too much. It results in the audience wishing it would stop. Perhaps no bad thing when we are witnessing torture, but it inures the audience to the horror of the story and it is difficult to empathise with the character while bombarded by the tempo and language. Some variation would allow certain areas to hit harder while affording the audience some respite.
It's a tough act as I said, particularly for the actor, and it's true to the company's aim to explore the ideas of Antonin Artaud - including that theatre should affect the audience as much as possible. You might not enjoy the experience, but it will continue to sing in your blood and it's a piece of theatre that deserves to been seen.
Times: 5-16, 18-23 and 25-31 August, 1.45pm.