Written by Katie Redford, directed by Rob Watt, and co-produced by Theatre Centre and Sheffield Theatres, Wish You Weren't Here is a new, funny and heart-warming exploration of the modern day challenges of family relationships, of children becoming teenagers and the agony of those years, coupled with how to find your way in the world when you can’t help but think that you’re just not good enough. As is usual with this particular collaboration, the voices and experiences of young people are firmly to the fore.

The play specifically explores the relationship between Mother and daughter and highlights the difficulties that both parents and children face in this day and age. Both characters are convincing and the writing is both witty and to the point covering many social issues of our time including single parent families, body positivity and self-esteem, sexting, climate change, and race. Additionally, the relationship between Mila, Lorna and her deceased Mother (Nan) is considered. Nan’s cremated ashes have also been taken on holiday to Scarborough, firstly in a sandwich zip lock plastic bag and latterly decanted into a yellow seaside bucket.

The piece follows Lorna, a young, single mother, (Eleanor Henderson) and her teenage daughter Mila (Olivia Pentelow) as they take a few days holiday to Scarborough to celebrate Mila’s exam results. Mum and daughter are emotionally poles apart, Mila is a typical grumpy teenager whilst Mum Lorna does her best to jolly her daughter along. Clearly, neither appreciates or understands the other’s mindset or challenges. Lorna is trying her best to remain cheerful and upbeat in spite of heartbreak and numerous challenges she faces, whilst Mila feels the unrelenting pressure of trying to conform to an ‘ideal’ portrayed and promoted by social media and peer pressure whilst her self-esteem takes a battering as she never feels ‘good enough’. Both characters possess a brilliant sense of comic timing and the audience were laughing out loud within a few minutes of the play beginning.

As the play will be touring and visiting schools, the set is simple but still manages to effectively illustrate the varying scenes from the premier hotel room, to the fairground and the amusement arcade. Similarly, the sound and lighting were basic but perfectly suited to the writing and playhouse environment.

Wish You Weren’t Here manages to be thought provoking without in any way being judgemental. I would hope that this play reaches as wide an audience as possible. It should be compulsory viewing for all parents and teenagers as it provides an opportunity for a discussion around many of the difficult social issues facing them today, which in turn may better help them manage their lives and future relationships.