How this show got put together at all is a classic story of boy-meets-girl-in-audition-queue-and-decides-to-put-on-a-double-bill-of-new-writing-in-the-Pembroke-Cellars. Each is half an hour long (“An issue-based piece of drama is more punchy for that time slot,” Ellen informs me). ‘Issue-based?’ you might ask. ‘What’s their gripe? The nature of deception? Telling your kids about Santa Claus? Insisting on saying Ballare instead of Cindies?’ None of the above (though I’d love to see a play that combined all three of these pressing issues).

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the title of this double bill is some kind of Orwellian coinage. And in a way, you’d be right. Both are connected to the idea of a society focused on surveillance.

The first half of the production is Guy Clark’s No Comment , which he admits is the “more conventional” play, whilst assuring me that it has its “surreal moments”. His piece, which was shortlisted for the National Theatre’s New Views 2012 playwriting competition, is a dissection of the vindication of an individual at the hands of an out-of-control press (think DSK). Described by NT Artistic Director Nick Hytner as “an impressive piece about a very current issue” this piece has a lot of hype to live up to. Guy affectionately recalls his teacher’s insistence on submitting something to the competition, specifically “something political”. A few months after the DSK scandal, Guy has reams of articles for source material literally at his fingertips. And he seems to have used it well.

Clearly becoming quite passionate about the subject matter, making comparisons to DSK and Andrew Mitchell’s ‘Plebgate’ sensation, Guy seems to come up with an endless stream of well-rounded lines in our interview: “You don’t need to convict someone to ruin their life… Suddenly there’s a scandal. Suddenly everyone knows his name, hates him, reviles him… Then it peters out. But everyone still thinks of him as ‘that pleb guy’.” As an actor in his own play, it shouldn’t be too presumptuous to expect the same energy when he’s in costume. But even as a writer, it’s clear he had something to say when he put pen to paper. After all, the press loves to hate. And so do we. The Leveson Inquiry is still haunting the world of media, and these issues are as relevant now as they were a year ago. Politics students, journalists, Union members, or pretty much anyone, should find something to interest them.

A Civilised Society, Ellen Robertson’s devised piece, charts the wandering imaginations of four homeless people who try to think up a solution to homelessness. So far, so new. “I’ve never seen homelessness onstage,” Ellen explains. And I’m guessing most of you haven’t, either. But after this week some of you will have seen it.” “It’s the 2012 of 1984,” Director Elle Ramel proudly asserts. English students, contain your excitement.

In a visit to a homeless shelter in the dark recesses of The Other Place, Ellen was told not to shy away from controversy: the homeless laugh at themselves; they make jokes about heroin. “We want to make people really uncomfortable,” asserts actress Kay Dent, who played Portia in The Merchant of Venice?). Having watched part of a rehearsal, I can say I’m not offended so far. But for such a short issue-based play, it doesn’t point the finger as starkly as you might expect. Judging by Ellen’s description, it says a good deal more than ‘THIS IS A PROBLEM. START CARING. NOW.’ Actor Chris Born slyly tells me “not to expect a preachy play”.

She admits it’s hard to talk about it without sounding “trite”, but Ellen says she was inspired after leaving a theatre and encountering a homeless man asking for money. This scene served as a reminder of reality that shows a clear link to a play “about homelessness but also about the nature of acting”: a play that depicts the “escapism of the homeless”. Self-described “neurotic” director Elle (who has four years of studying theatre at Yale...), intriguingly calls it “meta-Beckett”. ‘As if Beckett wasn’t confusing enough as it is,’ you might sigh to yourself. But to make such a conceptual play grounded in accessible language and ideas is something that Ellen seems to have done.

Ellen shows her reservations about the subject matter, seeing why people might think it’s a bit like “white people doing coloured theatre,” which makes you feel “like you don’t have a right” to put on the show if you don’t know what it’s like for your depicted demographic. But as Elle simply puts it, “sometimes you want to do something different.” Anyone apart from me tempted to go see something different?

Truthspeak is this week's late show in Pembroke New Cellars: Tue 5th - Sat 9th Feb, 9.30pm