The title of Penelope Skinner's 2010 Eigengrau translates from German as 'intrinsic grey', referring to the hue that the eye sees in perfect darkness. Indeed, Skinner presents a bleakly humorous view of our grey world: a recognisable, contemporary London of flat-shares, temporary jobs, thwarted ambitions, strained relationships and the everyday stresses, struggles and disappointments of young Londoners.

Cassie, a deeply cynical and fearful but ardent feminist, works as a lobbyist, delivering blistering lectures on the deleterious effects of porn that simulates rape. She uneasily shares her flat with Rose, a New Age optimist and romantic she 'got off Gumtree'. Rose, who believes in all manner of supernatural beings and trusts, like Dickens's Mr Micawber, that the universe will benevolently provide (while the final demands pile up), is pursuing a humiliatingly masochistic liaison with the supremely uninterested, smarmy and over-privileged City boy Mark. His flatmate, Tim, can't stop grieving the loss of his grandmother, refusing to scatter her ashes which remain in a hideous, cat-shaped ossuary, and is stuck in a dead-end job. After callously dumping Rose, Mark pursues the wounded and weary Cassie, ridiculously donning a 'This is What a Feminist Looks Like' t-shirt and asserting his conversion to the cause. Mark is actually a serial fabricator, compulsively seducing women by affecting to understand and share their beliefs and hurts. The play veers towards classical tragedy when Rose, deranged by Mark's rejection, blinds herself, before swiftly finding love with Tim and leaving the now-pregnant Cassie alone to rear the child she hopes will be a girl.

Skinner offers a naturalistic realism with everyday dialogue, but she also displays an impressive psychological acuity. Her metaphors of light and dark work to explore how her characters view the world – as starkly bright or dark (rather than the more muddled greys) – and one of her central concerns is how the selves we determinedly project are easily undermined. Thus, Cassie is unable to preserve her feminist defences when the chauvinistic Mark pursues her, eventually allowing him to sexually humiliate her in an excruciating scene. Skinner also explores the clash between our fantasies of human rationality and self-will and the elements of our psychology that undermine and tend towards self-destruction. The self-proclaimed go-getter Mark thus berates Tim for not trying harder to 'get over' his grandmother's death, polish his CV and pursue a successful career.

The impressive, highly talented cast deliver committed and convincing performances, never shying away from the play's moments of semi-nudity, explicit sex and violence. Three of the cast are appearing in their first Tower production while the fourth, Joe Burke, is appearing in only his second. Olivia Baker is funny, sweet and occasionally terrifying as the single-minded, deluded and brittle Rose. Ben Alderton obviously enjoys greatly himself as the loathsome Mark, but he tempers the character's villainy with touching flashes of loneliness and desperation. Both actors convince with their depictions of Rose and Mark's queasy, and very funny, combination of blind confidence and self-delusion. Joe Burke, all crumpled disappointment and wounded detachment, skilfully conveys Tim's deep melancholia and tentative generosity. In a very accomplished cast, Bianca Beckles-Rose gives the evening's standout performance, fearlessly inhabiting the role of Cassie and conveying absolutely her complexity. She slips impressively between Cassie's righteous anger and confidence and her isolation and confusion, physically communicating Cassie's hesitations and doubts even as she appears poised and forthright.

The set and lighting design nicely dovetail with the play's metaphors of light/dark and its stripped-back qualities. The clever use of a revolving sofa and panels suggests the interchangeableness of the characters' lives and enables swift scene changes. A richer, more focused sound design would have been beneficial and the set design feels a little too uncomfortably stark at times. The direction is impressively confident and Ed O'Shaughnessy, in his directorial debut with Tower, has evoked strong, notable performances from his cast. I very much look forward to seeing what he goes on to do next, particularly in pieces with more richly texted design elements and larger casts. Despite its serious themes, the play is darkly funny and the director is strikingly assured at balancing the play's complex, shifting tones.

It is also particularly exciting to see Tower tackle new writing and successfully bring the work of a talented new playwright to a wide audience – an approach I hope the company continues to pursue.

Photography by Ruth Anthony