Despite some moments of rather stiff performance, Kobold Blue’s production of Things Between Heaven And Earth uses sparse scenography and concentrated dramaturgy to allow Jun Noh’s script to unravel its intriguing reflections on sexual, racial, social and spiritual identity. Essentially an intense conversation between a writer and his former lover, it twists through their respective pasts before finally revealing the writer’s guilt and the truth about his ex-lover’s husband’s desires.

Touching on the alienation of diasporic communities and the impact of homophobia, it is most emphatic in its interrogation of the writer’s responsibility, both artistically and personally. His ex-lover’s distaste for his homosexuality is palpable, but the hidden currents of her subsequent relationships push her towards a raw confrontation. An interlude in which the writer is interviewed about his work serves to contextualise the titular novel, in which he reveals a devastating secret, but the dramatic action remains in the conversational conflict of the two performers, as they each struggle with resentment and frustration. The taut direction lends power to a script that confronts multiple complicated issues, without leaning too heavily into them for dramatic power: the script’s strength lies in its psychological precision.

Things Between Heaven And Earth, Underbelly Bristo Square, until 26 August, 1pm; main picture: Maggie Zhu.