From the moment Alex Otterburn erupts on stage in his red tracksuit, eyeing us warily in silence, he commands our attention. He is like a coiled spring, full of barely-contained energy, which explodes in that initial “So …”, projected on the white screen behind him. Yes, Eddy has arrived and is about to tell us his story.

Mark-Anthony Turnage’s opera Greek had its UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1988, and this co-production by Opera Ventures and Scottish Opera premiered at the 2017 Edinburgh International Festival, directed by Joe Hill-Gribbins. This revival is directed by Daisy Evans. With a libretto by Steven Berkoff from his play of the same title, the opera’s language ranges from the vulgarly demotic to the highly sophisticated, often in the same utterance. The musical language is similarly varied, at times raw, spiky and punky, then sweet and melodic.

This re-telling of the Oedipus story, relocated to the East End of London, is achieved with a small cast of four – Otterburn as Eddy, and three multi-tasking others. Susan Bullock is Mum, Allison Cook is Wife, both are Waitresses and Sphinx. Extremely mobile-faced Henry Wadddington is Dad, Café Manager and Chief of Police.

All the action takes place in a narrow space in front of the screen, which is right at the front of the stage. From time to time, live video is projected on the screen; whoever of the cast is not on stage at the time does the necessary for the camera. When live maggots are added to the baked beans and sauces, there are small, squirming sounds of disgust from the audience; for this is an Oedipus set in the 1970s into the 1980s and maggots are a bit of a play on words.

Alex Lowde’s costumes are a joy, in all their tacky horror. As Eddy leaves home and moves towards his fate, the tracksuit is replaced by a suit, for Eddy has gone up in the world. When his parents come to visit him and his wife, the dialogue is charged with social awkwardness.

Finnegan Downie Dear conducts soloists from the Scottish Opera orchestra, who not only play their instruments, they stamp their feet and yell and hammer on the metal struts of the pit to create the raucous sound of the riot. After that, Eddy ends up in the café where he meets his future wife, and kills her husband. Her lament, intercut with Eddy’s chat-up lines, is shocking in its banal acceptance of domestic violence and superbly sung by Cook, as is her Act 2 love song.

It is interrupted by the arrival of his parents, come to tell about the fortune-teller, who said their child would kill his Dad and bunk up with his Mum. They also tell him about the Sphinx who turns out to be two women with a low opinion of men – again, superbly sung by Bullock and Cook.

Learning his wife is his mother, shall Eddy do the Greek thing, ketchup smeared down his face? Bollocks to that!