BLUE Boy, a new play by NorthEast writer Margaret Wilkinson, will be performed in Darlington next month under the Civic at Central Hall arrangement following the closure of the Arts Centre.

Directed by Tess Denman-Cleaver, it opens at Northern Stage next week and then goes on a regional tour which will also include Durham Book Festival.

Rooted in contemporary social issues, Blue Boy was influenced by high-profile cases that have involved the death of a child in care and is described as a tense contemporary thriller. When the boy arrives in a social worker’s office late at night, it is unclear whether his business is refuge or revenge as the play examines society’s obsession with assigning blame when something goes tragically wrong.

Wilkinson, author of the moving play Queen Bee, has described the style as “office gothic”, because although it takes place in downbeat premises, the seemingly ordinary setting soon becomes distorted, even supernatural, as the real reason the two characters are trapped in each other’s worlds emerges.

Blue Boy is a co-production between New Writing North, Northern Stage, the Civic, Durham Book Festival and Customs House at South Shields. Performances in the Dolphin Centre are on November 3 and 4, at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £11, concessions available, from darlingtonarts.co.uk and 01325- 486555.