Castaways by Atiha Sen Gupta is a new piece of writing which touches on Englishness, cultural loyalty and belonging – or not belonging – seen through the eyes of three young and exuberant protagonists.

In an everyday English town, one that’s not going to win any awards for scenic beauty or the breadth of its cultural landscape, three teenagers are growing up and fast. Friends since primary school Asha, Kieran and Sam are from different family backgrounds and still hang out, rather sweetly getting together to revise for exams in between mucking about down the park, recording it all for Instagram and Snapchat. But behind their sunny innocence they are all putting on brave faces; Asha is her mum’s carer, Kieran has a racist for a big brother and Sam’s dad is a waste of space so he can’t wait for his brother Paul to come home from his latest tour of duty.

Asha (Yasmin Ahsanullah), Sam (Jonathan Clarke-Hesson) and Kieran (Andy Greaves) are delightful narrators and easy company; these three young performers are talented. True, their teenage years are not far behind them but they pull out tight performances to capture those gawky mannerisms, that non-stop energy, the cynicism and childish delight that is typical late teens behaviour. The set and soundscape, both designed Nomi Everall, create a strong sense of time and place too, although some of the scene-shifting did get in the way of the dramatic flow.

Described in the programme as theatre developed from creative workshops with young people Castaways works well as a piece to provoke discussion and engage younger audiences. It does feel like there is a longer play to be had from the source material and I felt cheated; I wanted to know what made the three characters tick. At times we were rushed from one set piece to another and there is a danger of the issues overwhelming the story. However, this is a tightly directed and choreographed production and it succeeds in exposing a mainstream audience to a slice of British life they are only aware of from newspaper headlines.