Chloë Lawrence-Taylor’s play Personal Values, currently playing in the Downstairs studio at Hampstead Theatre, is an intimate family piece set in a hoarder’s house.
The sole occupant is Bea (a fragile and touching Rosie Cavaliero), who has allowed herself to be cocooned and consumed by the boxes of newspapers and cutlery, childhood detritus, and an impractical multi-level room that has become living, sleeping, and hosting space.
Her sister Veda (a rational Holly Atkins) is visiting, bringing a sense of secrecy and closure to the family, swarthed in a coat of alpaca wool, and shuddering at a lingering smell vaguely like sausages.
It’s sometime after the death of their father, a man who relied completely on Bea for his comfort and care, while Veda had left and started a family of her own.
Bea’s house, or what’s accessible in it – the stairs have gone, but you can get upstairs ‘if you know how’ – is slightly disconcerting, with low rumbles and the sound of water (design: Max Pappenheim) all around it, and lights (design: Holly Ellis) that flicker and fizz at inopportune moments.
The sisters bicker in the shorthand that only siblings know, while Veda’s character is sketched in facts and memories. They were clearly close as children; but now a world apart.
With upbeat direction by Lucy Morrison, Personal Values may have family loss and bereavement as a major part of the story, but the effect is not one of darkness or depression.
The sharp and sensitive writing allows us to believe even the unlikely twists and turns that come from the mid-point of the play onwards. Life is full of surprises.
In using a set design (by Naomi Dawson) that displays album covers and board games alongside a curiously out-of-reach kettle, a camping seat, and an (unseen) mustard coloured door, we feel enveloped into Bea’s world from the first moment.
Lawrence-Taylor doesn’t just capture the nuance of everyday conversation but also cultural milestones and a lingering sense of loss. She has a ear for the sound of broken dreams.
When Veda’s teenage son Ash (a passionate Archie Christoph-Allen) arrives, we see an outside perspective on the belongings and memories that keep Bea safe but cut-off from the world around her; even a neighbour in need isn’t permitted to ‘see the way I live’.
Personal Values is unafraid to venture into areas which might cause even seasoned writers to pause. It understands the natural and the supernatural, the real and the imaginary.
For a writer so early in her career, Lawrence-Taylor already feels like an assured voice who understands that the mystery of life is often something to be found once we turn the page and pull back the shrinkwrap of routine.
Personal Values continues at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs until 17 May with tickets here.
4 stars.
Image credit: Helen Murray