Xu Nuo's psychological drama about an obsessive, young pianist who commits a murder in order to save himself from being sued by a hit-and-run victim, is the third, and final, instalment of a short series of A Play, A Pie, and A Pint, co-productions with the National Theatre of Scotland highlighting the work of young Chinese writers.
PPP has always been keen to embrace cross-cultural exchanges, a case in point being the excellent Arab Spring themed season of work curated by David Greig.
But if truth be told, these short dramas, (the others being Secrets and Thieves and Boy), while stimulating enough in pointing up changing aspects of modern Chinese society, have tended to feel more like works in progress, rather than the finished article. Fox Attack, which is based on a true story about the effect of an escalating claims culture, is no exception.
Adapted by Catherine Grosvenor, the production features a fine central performances from Chris Lew Kum Hoi as the mollycoddled young pianist who slowly reveals his dark secret to his mother, played by Tina Chiang.
The trouble is he takes an awfully long time to do so. By which time, we've been privy to plenty of mood music, mother and son chat about our protege's chances of being the next Lang Lang, as well as riffs on the obsessive drive for perfection, and some supernatural overtones about a fox spirit.
However, by the time the murderous act central to the piece is neatly introduced with a late theatrical flourish by director Amanda Gaughan, it's difficult not to find yourself all suspensed out.
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