exactly what you're getting from the start.

Kathi DeCouto, as attack victim Marjorie, takes to the Daylesford stage clad in black lacy underwear and silky scarlet robe. Her first word, as she is stung by a wasp, has four letters.

With this production, director Barry Bailey pulls no punches. He even adds to the shock value of William Mastrosimone's play, since the script refers to a bathrobe and gives Marjorie a rather tamer first line.

But this is not a play for voyeurs, and it does not set out to shock for the sake of it. It deals with ugly human problems of morality and justice, and uses the necessary means.

There is no nudity, of course, but the attempted rape is graphically shown and the language is powerfully realistic. (As are Donna Froomkin's superb set dressing and the stunning make-up by Sally Childs and Margaret Wiest.) So if you're offended by cursing or the realistic depiction of physical and mental torture, then this play is not for you. But it contains nothing that isn't seen in countless movies, and offers a grim examination of an age-old crime many Bermuda residents believe is on the increase. It also has, as the title implies, many enjoyable moments of dark farce.

Kathi DeCouto gives a great performance as Marjorie, the woman who is attacked in her home and who then takes revenge, displaying her anguish and frustration well while hinting at an underlying flirtatiousness.

Heather Bean and Barbara Jones are also excellent as Marjorie's housemates Terry and Patricia, who find themselves players in the power struggle in Patricia's New Jersey farmhouse.

But Robert Pires, who plays Raul the intruder, must receive the most praise for handling an extraordinarily difficult role. He not only portrays everything from sadistic menace to howling self-pity, but does so while spending most of the time unable to move or show his face.

This is an accomplished production of a play presenting enormous technical and moral challenges. In moments where the production doesn't work, it is almost always the fault of the play, which is over-loaded with symbolism and neat correspondences.

BMDS must be congratulated for their courage in putting on "Extremities'', which was shunned before eventually becoming a hit on stage and screen.

Well-suited to the Daylesford setting, it is a claustrophobic but gripping examination of the power struggle between men and women, the seeming impossibility of getting true justice, and the fragility of civilised "normal'' life.

It ends as it begins, with two people in a room. Both are victims and both are attackers. They have witnessed each other's torment and have been bonded together by their experience, but there are no solutions.

In today's climate, where the subject of rape and sexual assault is at last being discussed more openly, the play should offend no-one. None of its characters are pleasant people, and it deals with the true horror of sexual assault with unblinking honesty. It is a valuable contribution to the debate.

It runs through Saturday, October 24. Tickets, $10, are available from Daylesford between 7 and 8 p.m.

JOHN MILLARD.