A provocative new production from Teddington Theatre Club will allow audience members to discuss the tough subject matter with directors and cast-members post-performance.

Blackbird, by Scottish playwright David Harrower, opens at Hampton Hill Playhouse on November 16 and tells the story of middle-aged Ray, who has built a new life for himself after serving a lengthy prison sentence.

His life is thrown upside down once more when he is confronted by Oona, who he had run away with 15 years earlier when she was just 12 years old.

Co-director Sophie Hardie says: "It’s a rollercoaster of emotions for both characters, to say the least.

"It leaves it pretty much wide open as no questions are answered. It’s left for the audience to make their minds up about it.

"It’s fundamentally a love story but an awful crime at the same time."

After the first performance, audience members will have the opportunity to discuss the themes of the story, and Ms Hardie says she and her colleagues still question aspects of the characters’ moral codes during rehearsals.

She says: "We have done a lot of research about previous cases and discussing the subject matter and how we feel about it. We are not there to shock the audience, we hope to make people think.

"It’s left to the individual to decide how they feel about it."

  • Blackbird; Hampton Hill Playhouse, 90 High Street, Hampton Hill TW12 1NZ; November 16-22, 7.45pm; £8-£10; call 0845 8387529 or visit ttc-boxoffice.org.uk.