When I was a GCSE drama student everyone wanted to make shows about drug abuse, mental illness and inappropriate sexual relationships – all in the name of causing a stir and being ‘edgy’. Its cringe-worthy looking back now, but we have the excuse of youth, inexperience and not really knowing much better. Big Mouth Theatre Company on the other hand has the backing of university and drama school education, yet still it’s been suckered in by the lure of provocation and controversy. The Thin Line delves into the murky waters of teacher-student relationships, fuelled by the anonymity of online dating and the ease of connection of the digital age, desperately trying to raise a few eyebrows and questions along the way.

The narrative is straightforward enough: our protagonist George (Pete Darwent) is a newly qualified teacher wading through pages of marking and match.com when he finally clicks with a beautiful, interesting woman. In an unsurprising turn of events the woman turns out to be Beth (Jessica Elphick) one of his underage students, who, it seems, knew his identity all along. And even more unsurprisingly things take a sinister and sour route as George’s career and life are torn apart. Strangely, Beth disappears from the story soon after making her testimony, leaving a gaping hole in both the dramaturgy and our sympathies.

The cast themselves are evidently a strong ensemble, Alex Boxall in particular balancing the playful appearances as George’s best friend with a stylised representation of George’s inner self. Darwent is terribly sympathetic, yet painfully foolish. But it becomes frustrating how similar the female roles are as it limits Elphick, Heidi Goldsmith and Joanna Rosenfeld’s demonstrations of their underlying versatility and sensitivity. Overall the style of the production is juvenile for a company that, although relatively young still, has a lot of experience shared amongst them. Big Mouth dives into a number of theatrical styles – using montages, snippets of verbatim dialogue and representational props to identify the melange of pop up characters – in a manner that would tire if the show were much longer.

The major failing of The Thin Line is that the questions it desires to pose about the thin lines between innocence and guilt, acceptable attraction and paedophilia, justice and scapegoating are not seriously addressed. The show’s promise of controversy is never quite delivered upon. Instead we’re presented with a morally ambiguous message that encourages the “teenage girls are dishonest” rhetoric (a direct quote from the character of George’s mother). Disappointingly, the overwhelming feeling upon exiting the theatre wasn’t shock or intrigue but rather an apathetically lingering question of ‘what was the point of all that?’

The Thin Line is playing the Courtyard Theatre until 24 January. For more information and tickets, see the Courtyard Theatre website.