As the name suggests, Philip Correia’s debut is an exploration of the home – or as his Northumberland-native characters’ say, hyem. Set in a dysfunctional patchwork ‘family’, HYEM (yem, hjem, home) unpicks the relationship between place and those who you love, and ultimately how the outside world can threaten it all.

Mick and Sylv, played by Patrick Driver and Charlie Hardwick, welcome local kids for whom home is an unwelcoming place, and their latest “recruit” is Dummy, a silent tracksuit-wearing teenager who is besotted with Laura, and is unwanted by his family or his new school.

In the sanctuary of their living room Dummy, Laura, and Laura’s best friend Shelley find the foster family they wish they had, drinking tequila from the bottle, watching porn as if it was daytime TV, and feeding Vivien Leigh the 6ft python. Mick and Sylv offer an alternative: escape, fun, and most importantly, a kind of love.

They are unofficial foster parents, with an unconventional streak that has the Fountain Park estate talking, reported by a largely silent Dean, played by a brooding Joe Blakemore. His tear drop tattooed face offers a taste of the danger outside the living room, and ultimately reveals the danger than lies within.

Ryan Nolan as Alan “Dummy” Dummett delivers a subtle and emotional performance. This is an astounding professional debut from a striking young actor, who manages to hold his own against established names. Likewise, Aimee Kelly and Sarah Balfour as Laura and Shelley perfectly capture both the irrepressible energy of teenage girls, and the sense of foreboding as they face the adult world and the problems it poses.

Charlie Hardwick is by far the most recognizable face – best known as Val in Emmerdale – and she doesn’t disappoint as the matriarchal, yet soft-hearted Sylv. Hardwick delivers pithy comments, while emanating a sort of love. She is well matched by Patrick Driver who successfully reveals the multi-layered and tortured soul that is Mick.

Mick and Sylv’s living room has been perfectly imagined by designer Jasmine Swan. The realistic and frankly quite clever set transports you – body and mind – to 2003 on the Fountain Park estate, Northumberland. This is one of the most dynamic sets I have seen in a long time.

Theatre 503’s championing of new writers has paid off once again. Visceral, heart felt, and with flashes of true originality, Philip Correia’s HYEM (yem, hjem, home) knocks your socks off.

Hyem (yem, hjem, home) is playing at Theatre 503 until September 23.

Photo: Nick Rutter