Brit Steve Larkin’s update of Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles is smart and complicated. This time out, Tes is a teenaged boy from the projects rather than a milkmaid and, instead of being raped by a member of the gentry, Tes is sexually assaulted by a condescending, right-wing woman who is also his teacher. The opening of this piece is wonderfully taut but, when the adult Tes becomes a slam poet, the story is reduced to being a framework for his spoken word and the narrative tension subsides. Still, Larkin compassionately conjures the brutalities of class, and he’s a passionate performer.

At the Revue Stage on September 6 (12:30 p.m.), 7 (9:15 p.m.), 11 (6:45 p.m.), 13 (5:15 p.m.), and 14 (3 p.m.)