HEXHAM’S resident theatre company, Theatre Sans Frontieres, has collaborated with companies in Cyprus, Berlin and Tenerife, as well as German director Franziska Schutz, to bring this multicultural story to life.

Two tourist friends, one from Newcastle and one from Berlin, find the body of a woman on a Tenerife beach.

The Geordie lass (Becky Jameson) stays with the body and strikes up a relationship with the local doctor attending the scene. The doctor’s sister is in constant email contact with a German architect who’s designing a school building in Africa, where the dead woman came from.

Then we have a little religious Scottish chap who sets off to walk from the Outer Hebrides to London to take his place on Antony Gormley’s plinth in Trafalgar Square, to persuade people to keep Sunday special.

The action flits about from one country to another, using different languages along with email conversations and mobile phone calls, and at times it’s difficult to remember who is connected to whom.

Jameson’s character, Joanne, provides some lighthearted fun as she runs a British citizenship class where the immigrants have difficulty understanding traditions such as grouse shooting and Guy Fawkes.

If all this sounds a bit complicated, it’s probably because communication is complicated, especially between different cultures. This vast array of European characters and places serves as an exploration of our own island identity both real and imaginary.

■ Touring May 7 and 8 to Northern Stage, Newcastle.

Box office: 0191-230-5151

Helen J Brown