If I’m going to review a play or musical that I know nothing about, I deliberately avoid finding out too much ahead of the performance.

I like to discover the play and be surprised, perhaps not see the twist in the tale.

Some theatre goers do have a fear of the unknown, and will generally stick to what they know, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

But if you are prepared to take a risk, there’s a play on this week at the Headgate Theatre in Colchester which is intriguing in content and performance, and which not even I have heard of.

Radiant Vermin was first produced in 2015, and staged at London’s Soho theatre, one of the hubs for new writing.

Possibly their biggest hit of recent years is the critically acclaimed Fleabag, the theatre supporting Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the development and first run of her hit play.

Now Colchester audiences have a rare chance to see Phillip Ridley’s play about homelessness, but one shot through with dark humour, and with a few magical twists.

Better yet, it’s produced by local professional theatre company Protocol, whose production of Macbeth packed out the Headgate and local schools earlier this year.

When I met director Forest Morgan and actor Megan Sharman recently, they are, understandably, excited about the production.

It embraces the challenges of the staging, in that it is a multi-location piece that has to flow quickly from one scene to another, and the details of the subject matter itself.

Megan understands these challenges so well, having performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year with 10:31 MCR, a devised piece that responded to the Manchester Arena bombings.

She says: “Even though 10:31 was a verbatim piece, both scripts place an emphasis on physical theatre, where every movement carries meaning and conveys the whole story.”

Forest adds: “There’s no fourth wall in this play, it’s very much direct story telling. If you’re fan of writers such as Martin McDonagh and Caryl Churchill, then this is the production for you.”

Even if you’re not, I would suggest that Radiant Vermin, and for that matter Tracy Lett’s Bug, coming up later at the same theatre in November, will be well worth getting to know.

Running until Saturday, October 19, for tickets either call the box office on 01206 366000 or go on-line at headgatetheatre.co.uk