The Corpus Playroom is much vaulted as an intimate venue, but this week, the staging of Chloe Mashiter’s new play in Pembroke New Cellars increases this intensity to great effect. Finding yourself similarly seated on sofas and armchairs as the cast is a neat staging idea, but thankfully, the cast and script of Unconditional were sufficiently strong to mean it was not simply a gimmick.

The opening was impressive, a well-observed scene of domestic ordinariness and familiarity between the married Sarah (Laura Batey) and Dan (Justin Wells), making the later more dramatic turn of events all the more difficult to watch. As both come to terms with the revelation of the first part of the play, Batey and Wells have moments that display real precision, particularly for dealing with subject matter as complicated and far-reaching as women’s attitudes to fellow women and our society’s still present and unfortunate hesistance to talk frankly about mental health. Batey in particular shone at a point at which, in frustration and upset, she trips over her daughter’s doll. The subsequent shout of anger was suitably emotive, and considerably heightened the tension.

This is not to say, however, that this was a perfect production. At times, it felt as though Mashiter ought to have gone for more sparse dialogue, some of the heated exchanges becoming too much like stock responses rather than genuine conversation between a couple. While it was clearly well-researched, this obvious wealth of knowledge at times became a burden rather than a help for the actors. Additionally, Wells exhibited an awkward stiffness during the second half whilst kneeling and moving towards his wife, with such movements undermining the realism intended. Nevertheless, Unconditional remains the best piece of new writing on this week, at times being both taut and probing.