More to the point he doesn’t try to be contemporary in that patronising way

More to the point, he doesn’t try to be “contemporary” in that patronising way. Instead, he is the Evelyn Waugh of the slacker generation, writing accessible, contemporary plays that blend whip-crack dialogue and surreal comedy with astringent nihilism. Added to the mix are Tica (Chloe Summerskill), an embittered pole-dancer from Adelaide, and Chad (Nick Gadd), a hapless Antipodean no-hoper who serves as the hostel dogsbody. Kangaroo Valley is a play about escape, whether it’s Tica seeking a compass to lead her away from her pole, Chad with his jargon-laden dreams of winning a skateboarding championship, or Jez trying to flee the rigours of the sportsman’s schedule.

But above all, it’s a play about Norman, a man who has already escaped from real life into the dirt and squalor of the independent traveller. A roaring bully, he sucks Jez down into his morass of drugs, bar work and dirty Y-fronts, while Chad and Tica bob helplessly in his wake, trapped in a dead-end lifestyle thousands of miles from home.Yet Farrow does not present Norman as a purely “bad” character. He balances somewhere on a line between Mephistopheles and Prometheus, leaving the onlooker unsure whether he should be condemned for tempting Jez into destruction or praised for offering him his only chance to escape the bondage of constant training under the paternal whip. Crossman’s performance succeeds in making Norman both incredibly loveable and completely loathsome at the same time.

This lends a sense of gritty verisimilitude to the character. The same goes for the other characters: although less multi-dimensional, they still all have depths which lift them away from being merely comic devices.Kangaroo Valley is both funny and bleak. If nothing else, it will emphatically tear up any romantic notions that one might have about the nobility and freedom of the backpacker life. More importantly, it is the perfect play to capture the imagination of a generation whose natural domain is the multiplex and the widescreen TV, rather than the theatre. To tomorrow (0117-987 7877); then Southwark Playhouse, London SE1 (020-7620 3494) 24 March to 10 April. We’re always hearing about twentysomethings – even, occasionally, teenagers – who have hit the jackpot with a deal for their first novel. But it’s much less common to hear about seniors striking it rich, in part because they tend to be less glamorous and promotable.