Simon Ward reviews Core Values at the Hen and Chickens Theatre

Written and directed by co-star Alice Dempsey, Core Values is a series of vignettes – snapshots and brief scenes to provide insight into the lives of protagonists here known as Player A (Cécile Fayter), Player B (Alice Dempsey herself) and Player C (Nikita Aang Campbell). The three perform well together, as the show opens they are entirely convincing as friends trying to agree on how they are going to pass the time. I could happily watch a show where they played flatmates, as their quirks and eccentricities start to emerge. This, however, is not that show. Here we see each, separately and together, deliver a series of what are essentially sketches. I would have liked more of an overarching thread, but Dempsey’s intention may be to suggest that such threads are actually illusory.

The tone shifts from scene to scene – there is a darkly comic moment where a self-described ‘great flatmate’ finds herself all but admitting to having been driven to murder; there is a deeply disturbing one where the best intentions of a friend end up destroying the evidence of a rape. There is also a recurrent question – how do you respond to conflict? Answered again and again in a variety of ways, one cannot help but ask oneself the same thing. It feels like a kind of therapy session. On arrival into the theatre we are asked to write down our own core values, and we are invited to discuss these in the bar downstairs afterwards, with each other and with the cast. It feels like an attempt to open up a conversation, and maybe bring out things we had not realised before, or had forgotten about. If that feels uncomfortable, that may be part of the point. It is also entirely optional, so there is really no pressure.

This entertaining and stimulating piece of theatre, running for under an hour, would, perhaps, have benefited from using a little more time to develop a stronger structure and introducing some connective tissue to bring each of the pieces into sharper focus. Some were so quick as to be almost instantly forgotten. With a simple set, the lighting was well deployed to create the breaks between scenes and the performers made the transitions seamlessly. The culture clash between the (thankfully happy) Arsenal fans thronging the bar as we departed and earnest theatre-goers clutching pieces of paper inscribed with core values was something to behold. Dempsey’s offer seems to be – ‘this is my lived experience, what’s yours?’ and that is a generous and engaging one. She is well served by her cast and the intimacy of the Hen and Chickens space. She undoubtedly has some compelling ideas to share – it would help if they had a little more room to breathe.

Core Values is running at the Hen and Chickens Theatre, 109 St Paul’s Road, London N1 2NA until Sunday 3rd May