A tale of two sisters

White Affy and black Di are ambitious half-sisters, both children of Chloe, an alcoholic prostitute battered by the pimp who is also her boyfriend. Playwright Tanika Gupta captures our attention with this premise - and keeps it riveted - while managing to avoid any potential for melodrama that the set-up might suggest.

Gupta is this year's commissioned writer for Clean Break, the writing company founded by, and focused on, women offenders. She carried out her research while running creative writing courses for inmates at HMP Winchester, and the tang of lived suffering is keenly felt in this work. Everything is stacked against Affy and Di; as much as we want their

youthful idealism to win through, the suspicion lingers that the psychological baggage of their family life will be a constant albatross around their necks. And so it proves, until Gupta presents a touching moment of hope and reconciliation at the end.

Sarah Cattle and Natasha Gordon are riveting as Affy and Di: the former edgy and lonely, the latter spirited and pragmatic. Connie Walker's mother is a picture of pitiful victimhood, clinging to the touching British belief that a hot drink will cure all evils, including the broken wrist that her boyfriend inflicts on Affy.

Director Natasha Betteridge effectively marshals her cast and makes good use of Atlanta Duffy's adaptable set, which is transformed from waste ground to living room to club. Make a clean break for Dalston now.

Inside Out is showing at the Arcola Theatre, E8, until 30 November. Box office: 020 7503 1646.

Inside Out

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