Verbatim theatre tends to be political but Alecky Blythe’s The Girlfriend Experience, set in a Bournemouth brothel, is deliberately parochial.

Based on more than 100 of hours of material recorded in a prostitutes’ parlour, it looks at the lives of four women who are neither exploited nor drug-addled but intent on earning a snug little living.

At £60 for “a bit of everything”, these are hardly adventuresses to rival Belle de Jour: when all are busy, for instance, a gnome is parked outside the front door.

Their existence is student-squalid, and they gobble sweets and sandwiches while waiting for clients — an unappealing bunch of men defined by their hubris or their off-piste requirements.

The title makes it clear that these ladies of pleasure aim for the “caring, sharing” approach.

They are selling not just sex but their personalities — which are affectionately conveyed.

As the matriarchal Tessa, Debbie Chazen is the piece’s loquacious star but Lu Corfield is also very good as laconic Poppy, while Beatie Edney’s Suzie seems intriguingly sad, and Alex Lowe shows versatility in playing all of the disparate punters.

The play has rich authenticity, plenty of laughs and one really disquieting moment. Yet it lacks shape.

Blythe’s signature insistence on “recorded delivery” (the whole cast wears headphones) feels clunky, and occasionally the dialogue pitches towards banality.

Still, The Girlfriend Experience reveals a side of prostitution with which most theatergoers will be unfamiliar, and, though inconclusive as a documentary, it certainly provides buxom entertainment.

Until 15 August. Information: 020 7922 2922.