If you go to watch Accolade expecting bawdiness and sex, you will be disappointed.

Instead you can expect touching performances, and a thought-provoking script, showcased in a production which is riveting.

The play, written by Emlyn Williams, untangles issues such as art, life, and privacy more effectively for the post-hacking era than during its reception in 1950.

This production, directed  by Blanche McIntyre, features a tour-de-force performance from Alexander Hansen as the writer with the debaucherous double-life.

Freedom, hedonism and blackmail combine to show how one man is pressured to protect his public persona and his family life.

The play raises shows how a person’s experiences can have far-reaching consequences as the results of one drunken party have devastating implications for Trenting’s son and

 It also raises questions about morality: what makes a person moral, how liberalism can have far-reaching consequences.

The play first ran in 1950 but doesn’t appear dated. In fact, the script seems even more pertinent after the hacking scandal because of how it explores the concepts of privacy and a personal life.

Hansen gives a highly nuanced and subtle performance, Abigail Cruttenden shines as his open-minded wife and perhaps the most touching performance comes from Sam Clemment as their son. He is all gangly limbs and wide eyes, veering from insouciance to concern with one bat of eyelashes.

All in all, a highly enjoyable production.

5/5 stars: Moving performances and a thought-provoking script

Accolade plays at the St James Theatre in Victoria until December 13.