Two years on from the riots that broke out in Tottenham before spreading to other parts of the UK, commentators are speculating on whether such civil unrest could happen again. There’s a feeling that for as long as inequalities in wealth persist, for as long as urban alienation continues, there’s every chance it might.

Accordingly, it’s a theme bubbling up on the Fringe. In Chalk Farm, reviewed in Glasgow last September by The Scotsman’s Joyce McMillan and now being given a slick, engaging production by ThickSkin at the Underbelly, Kieran Hurley and Julia Taudevin address the London riots directly.

From the vantage point of a tower block on a north London estate, they illustrate how the causes of a riot are a complex package of adolescent opportunism, running with the pack and social disenfranchisement.

As a companion piece, you’ll find no better than Feral (★★★★) by Edinburgh’s Tortoise in a Nutshell. This mesmerisingly inventive show presents unrest as a symptom of public policy that puts profit ahead of community. The opening of Supercade, a soulless casino, in a seaside town, brings not the promised prosperity but an escalating catalogue of shop closures, dereliction and violence. It’s a simple thesis, but the particular joy of this captivating show is in its live animation technique.

While the performers get busy in front of us, their black-and-white landscape takes shape on a screen above.

Before the chaos takes over, the company has lovingly built a community, shop by vintage shop, neighbour by quirky neighbour.

Their effort means we feel the loss much more acutely when things turn dysfunctional. Technically, visually, aurally and politically, it’s a tremendous show.

• Feral: until 25 August; today 8pm. Economy of Thought: until 26 August; today 2:40pm