Tommy Sissons’ Silent Houses takes us on quite the rollercoaster of emotions over its brief 75 minute run time. Ralph (Tobi Ejirele) and Cecily (Aoife Scott) are a likeable, relatable couple living in South London in 2023. Their relationship is loving but strained by the cost of living crisis, which has forced Cecily to put aside her dreams of becoming a dancer, and Ralph to resort to less than legitimate means of bringing in cash. Then Cecily discovers she’s pregnant and the story takes a sudden change of direction, with an unexpectedly funny middle section giving way to a hard-hitting and quietly devastating conclusion, which leaves its audience feeling both hopeless and slightly culpable.

The central plot twist about halfway through seems to come completely out of nowhere, and because of the change in tone that accompanies it, that does make you feel a bit like you’re suddenly watching a different play, with completely different characters. But while it doesn’t necessarily seem completely believable – at least at first – this turn of events does allow Sissons to ask some powerful questions. If things had turned out differently, would the character involved have made the same choice, and if so, how would they have justified it? Is it better to be poor but happy, or financially comfortable but miserable? And how are people ever supposed to escape from poverty when they live in a society that seems set up to keep them there?

Aoife Scott and Tobi Ejirele both give strong performances; Scott has an engaging vulnerability that balances well with Ejirele’s larger than life presence. It quickly becomes clear that Cecily is the practical one, the voice of reason, while Ralph is a dreamer who wants to give her the earth – if only he could. Alongside them, Nicholas Clarke brings humour but also more than a hint of menace as policeman Albert, who enters Ralph and Cecily’s story in an unexpected way.

The action is set almost exclusively in Ralph and Cecily’s small, sparsely furnished London flat, and director Lilly Driscoll uses the space well, concealing props inside the moving boxes that have become a feature of the couple’s transient existence. Meanwhile Cecily’s advancing pregnancy, portrayed with touching simplicity, charts the passing of time over several months, and it’s testament to Darwin Hennessy’s lighting design that the same set, which at the start of the play felt like a warm, loving home, by the end feels cold and empty.

Silent Houses could perhaps use a little smoothing of some of its sharp twists and turns, but that aside, it’s a thought-provoking and impactful drama that speaks to the situation of so many people across London and the rest of the UK. It’s a personal story, but there’s a bigger picture too – and with a general election looming, it’s never been more timely.

Silent Houses is at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre until 15th June.