SET in Leeds “in the near future,” The Good Book tells the story of a society that's on the brink of civil war.

The first project for Slung Low’s Leeds People's Theatre, the 30-minute film continues its commitment to community engagement.

The back story, in which Queen Bear seized power a decade ago by claiming to carry the spirit of King Arthur, is told in succinct one-liners by local people.

It picks up with Bear's authority being challenged by the followers of Galahad, with Avalon (Riana Duce) stuck in the middle, not knowing who to believe.

In this tense atmosphere, she sends short video messages to an unidentified person against a backdrop of curtain-twitching informers as those accused of dissent are bundled into the back of military trucks.

Figures of authority, dressed in Arthurian tunics and bearing swords — the costumes revealing the low budget nature of the production — are just as likely to be armed with guns and riot shields to protect the library from Galahad-ian radicals bearing “purity is virtue” and “burn the books” placards.

Avalon’s mission to rescue a volume sees her joined by the enigmatic Geraint (Angus Imrie), whose true nature is never revealed. This ambiguity increases the film’s tension, brought to a heightened pitch by Brett Chapman’s naturalistic direction and Heather Fenoughty’s electronic score.

Scripted by James Phillips, many of the scenes could be reconfigured as large-scale outdoor theatre. But the text messages on screen and crackling live video messages are well deployed, making effective use of the film medium.

The relative absence of story detail does not detract from the The Good Book’s impact — this is surely a useful springboard for a more ambitious future project.

Streaming at slunglow.org/tgb/