The titular Clair of British playwright Martin Crimp’s satiric thriller is a real estate agent, young, professionally cool, upwardly striving.

Those ‘dealing’ with her are Liz and Mike, tetchy Yuppies looking to make a killing on their location-perfect but structurally dodgy semi, and James, a suave prospective buyer.

First performed in 1988, the play is partly inspired by the disappearance and presumed murder of a London real estate agent, Suzy Lamplugh, who vanished after showing a client around property in 1986. Think of it as a black-comic dissection of Thatcher era free market values rather than a cold case re-enactment drama, however.

Daniel Fletcher, Arkia Ashraf and Talia Benatar in Dealing with Clair. Photo © Robert Miniter

Directed by Harry Reid, the production leans into the satiric and voices Crimp’s meticulously composed dialogue very convincingly (while inadvertently pointing out its mannerisms).

Working in a space defined by sliding, semi-translucent panels, Arkia Ashraf and Talia Benatar are are pitch-perfect as the odiously unprincipled Mike and Liz, a couple simultaneously papering over the cracks in their relationship as well as their house.

Olivia Hall-Smith’s Clair – brittle and tense – is likewise well played though Crimp doesn’t give her a lot to work with. Jade Fuda is excellent as Mike and Liz’s micromanaged Italian au pair. Her deadpan gaze is lethal. Daniel Fletcher’s disarmingly polite James – who behaves like someone who haunts Antiques Roadshow events – is nicely balanced on the knife-edge of creepiness.

Dealing with Clair plays at the Old Fitzroy Theatre until 25 July.