There is much to admire in this production of Jim Cartwright’s fiery play Road.

The cast work hard, most of them taking four or five roles each, in a piece which is a set of character studies and a slice of life from one long night in 1987 in a Lancashire street.

Sean Williams’s stellar turn, as the piece hits a depressing low with a hunger strike driven by the senselessness of life, is particularly affecting.

As is Martin Malone in the role of a 50-something broken by the changes he’s seen.

Janette Eddisford, playing a big Northern tart, gagging for it and in possession of a comatose drunken catch (Williams again, this time as an officer), adds some laughs.

It’s an ambitious Fringe production, too. The lengthy running time means director Julian Kerridge has given it the space to breathe. The staging is creative for the budget. Half-time drinks are served in a bar which feels as if it’s on loan from Phoenix Nights.

But the menace of life loses its impact as the accents slide out back and forth across the Pennines and sometimes further south.

Another drawback, on the night I was there, was that much of the first half was set to music from musicians practicing at BIMM over the road.

And the narrator, vagrant Scullery, overdressed as Gary Glitter, left me cold. Though in this gritty, depraved play, that might be the point.