This showcase of the original writing that Bedlam has to offer is a great opportunity for new voices to be heard and for onstage experimentation. Setting an admirably serious tone, the show, consisting of four short works, dealt with challenging topics ranging from divorce to animal rights activism.

Subtle movement was used innovatively throughout to achieve comic and dramatic moments, particularly apparent with the opening of Suppertime. This was a Pollock-Halls-JMCC-style dinnertime experience that had moments of real humour, capturing the banal aspects of student social life whilst having a jab at Simon Cowell in the process.

Victoria Linström’s short drama For Sale: Baby Shoes took inspiration from Ernest Hemingway’s infamous six-word story For Sale: Baby Shoes – Never Worn. Tension between the characters onstage was created successfully, portraying discord between wife and ex-husband effectively, making for an emotive exploration of marriage, break-up and fatherhood.

The show did, however, have a weak link. Tackling the issues surrounding depression through drama is a daunting task, requiring real sensitivity and slight of hand from the playwright. Unfortunately, Cheer Up Frowny Face didn’t achieve this. What could have been a provocative exploration of bipolar disorder instead created the aura of a middle-class group therapy session, culminating with what appeared to be the trivialisation of attempted suicide. A sudden allusion to lesbian adoption in the second scene simply felt like box ticking; as if the writer was trying to break as many taboos as possible.

Candlewasters did end on a note of high-intensity, however, with Transfusion, a comi-tragic examination of medical ethics in the aftermath of a bomb attack on a hospital. There’s only enough blood for one of the patients to survive, and two doctors prevaricate over who has the more deserving case.

There were truly hair-raising moments, heightened by some brilliantly hysterical female acting from Kay Singh. Particularly thoughtful was the use of theatre-within-theatre, as the actors rose out of the bodies on stage, drawing the audience into the sphere of the extra-corporeal experience.

Side-by-side with the darkness were some delightfully farcical moments, notably Richard Davies’ repeated screech of “I am well aware of that!”