Luke Barne’s debut play is an entertaining, snappy two-hander lent a topical resonance by recent events. The London riots have brought to fore the issue of increasingly bored and frustrated young people.

Yet it is not the rather more heavy-handed, catalytic anger of disenfranchisement which forms the central theme of Chapel Street. Rather, it is the flippant ennui which dominates the lives of young men and women, leading them to perpetuate a culture of binge-drinking and casual sexual encounters – sometimes, with lasting consequences.

It’s not unintentional that the above paragraph sounds a bit like a public service announcement promoting responsible drinking. Charismatic performances, clever direction by Cheryl Gallacher and a strong, incisive script are somewhat let down by a predictable ending which felt a little like a preachy cop-out. All the same, there’s a lot of enjoyment to be had along the way.

Ria Zmitrowicz rises to the challenge of portraying Kirsty, convincingly inhabiting the role of a 15-year-old girl with all its attendant attributes: a coquettish, clumsy sexuality, giddy excitement and misguided naivety. Daniel Kendrick gets argubly the easier of the two roles and also the funniest lines as 20-something freewheeler Joe – but he imbues his mouthy, laddish character with a jocular sense of despair and nihilistic unease. The commitment and intelligence which both actors bring to their roles keep Joe and Kirsty from descending into caricature.

The dialogue is natural and humorous, although I found some of the interjections and overlaps slightly jarring at times. Nonetheless, Barnes has a flair for building up convincing, engaging idiolect interspersed with memorable asides which lend his characters a depth and pathos. He has a shrewd eye for the personal observations and rationalisations we make about our surroundings and the everyday – such as Joe’s utterance that other people criticising him for living with his parents are just jealous that they have to do their own laundry and cooking. I’d be keen to see more from this promising playwright.