‘Basement Flat’ – superb

Basement Flat – Benny&Kate, written by Rona Munro

Apprehension is a good place to start an encounter with this play, but not for the reasons you might expect.

Something is dripping. Hands in fingerless gloves tap away on a calculator. A woman in a chair adjusts her blanket. A radio from a hard-to-place decade plays what sound at first like 1980s public information warnings – or is it 1970s? When is this scene exactly?

Benny&Kate are always a must-see for me. They stare down contemporary and adult themes while bringing emotional truth to their characters. So when I read on social media that Basement Flat was unlike anything else they’d done I admit I was apprehensive.

At first we’re on recognisable ground. A scathing attack on Britain’s overblown property market: Fiona and Stephen have been forced or duped (or both) into selling their home to a property prospector who now bestrides the upper floors wielding an oligarchical power over his one-time co-habitees, now tenants. They might have to let out their daughter’s bedroom to meet his rising rent demands.

It’s tense, it’s claustrophobic. There’s something simmering. It’s not a comfortable place to be. And it’s about to get less comfortable.

As order unravels, protagonists and audience grab for the familiar things of safety: a Cath Kidston apron, a cup of herbal tea. But these anchors aren’t strong enough to hold when things have gone this feral. Superb.

Claire Gulliver