Martin Crimp's 2012 play about unfulfilment in a society that wants everything and wants it now has been revived by a young student company at the Burton Taylor as an accomplished piece of theatre. The play starts in familiar territory – the warring family Christmas – and then departs from that formality to lead us through an exploration of the misery and pain caused by modern consumerism before washing us up exhausted on the beach with the survivors. It even has songs, although it is about as far from a musical as is possible to imagine.

Mum and Dad – Sandra and Tom – are hosting a family Christmas dinner for their two daughters Debbie and Hazel, and Tom's parents Margaret and Terry. So far so Ayckbourn. It doesn't take long for family tensions to break to the surface; suddenly Uncle Bob appears, all in white like a JD Sports-dressed Gabriel, but far from angelically and proceeds to rip into the family, supposedly at the bidding of his wife Madeleine. In the next act the dining room is spirited away and a cast of 'every people', played by the family, addresses us on how fantastic their life is now that we can satisfy every demand at the click of a mouse. However, it becomes rapidly clear that there is no happiness to be had here.

This is an ensemble piece and there isn't a weak member of the cast. In Act 2 the physicality and discipline of all the performancers was really strong. Hasan Al-Habib as Bob was particularly compelling as a man torn to shreds by the demands of his marriage and the society he finds himself living in whilst Lucy McIlgorm wrestled well with combining a Muller Light version of innocence with a ball-breaking domination. The excellent musical score was composed especially for this production with songs by Alix Middleditch and the soundtrack by Amanda Waters.

Whether through budget or deliberate choice, the production had no scenery, scant furniture and very credible miming took the place of real food and drink consumption. This may have been a comment on the vacuousness of consumption in all its forms but personally I think props and fully developed costumes may have added to the experience and interpretation of the audience. Similarly, a student company will find it harder to cast actors of the right playing age for the generations seen on stage, although actually after the first few minutes I bought it into each character portrayed by this young cast. Overall, it was an accomplished production.