Plays commissioned to be acted by teenagers might seem in danger of patronising their performers or alienating older audiences but Saturday’s double bill in the New Connections series was challenging and rewarding for all parties.

David Mamet’s The Vikings and Darwin is an intellectually rigorous play of just 20 minutes, set in the map room in Whitehall on May 24 1941. Four stylish clerks tap away at typewriters to the background warble of Noël Coward, debating the philosophy of war as well-educated bright young things will do. Why is it, one asks, that soldiers are often reported to wake up saying “I dreamt I would die today” and then die? Does fear of death make you fight or fatalistic?

As they pause the conversation to manipulate pins on the map behind them – each one representing a ship’s crew of thousands – it becomes clear that their subtle arguments about Vikings and valour are tragically out of touch, more suited to the world of Henry V than HMS Hood. This is a powerful and nuanced play, although perhaps some of the dialogue’s ellipses needed a little more filling in.

Where Mamet’s offering was poised and restrained, William Boyd’s 45-minute Six Parties, directed by Emma Keele with a cast from South Thames College, was frenetic, with no lid on the flirting and bad behaviour. Set in an unidentified African country in the present day, the play deals with a world divided by class in which the privileged sons and daughters of politicians – preparing to go to Westminster, Central St Martin’s and Oxford – party, drinking elicit gin, smoking, kissing and dancing. Their drug dealer is Femi (given a mesmerising performance by young Adrian Markland) whom they call a friend until tensions arise. When he needs their help to escape being drafted into war, Ben, son of the defence minister (played persuasively by John Adegboyega) refuses to give it.

Boyd’s autobiographical script is meaty and generous, and Karen Lowe’s choreography, combining hip hop and contemporary dance, gave the cast an engaging outlet for their angry energy. But when a triumphant Boyd told the audience at the end that the evening’s success belonged to the performers, he was quite right. ★★★★☆