THE complexities of female friendship are explored in a contemporary new production commissioned by Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts.

Performed by acclaimed physical theatre company Angel Exit, The Drive sees two estranged friends thrown together on a tense journey from London to Oslo. The further Becky and Nat get from home the closer they come to confronting the demons of their shared past.

Spliced through with humour, slick physicality, an original soundtrack and video projection, The Drive is a show about friendship, grief, the fragility of memory, turning 40 and coming of age in the 1990s. It also looks at who owns the truth when something can’t be proven.

Co-artistic directors Lynne Forbes and Tamsin Fessey explain: “We felt there was a need to create a piece of work with two women at its centre. A show in which female friendship was at the foreground of the storytelling. We were also interested in the reconstructive nature of memory and how in the process of remembering we create our own versions of the stories which shape us.

“The use of video projection reflects the content stylistically and adds to the idea that our personal narratives are constructed in the same way that a film is edited and framed; a notion that the writing also explores.

“Guilt and grief has created fissures in the characters’ friendship and this has seen them fall out of touch with each other.

“The drive across Europe at their dead friend’s behest provides an intense and sometimes comical setting for the show to look at the complexities of female friendship, how we deal with guilt and grief and ultimately forces Becky and Nat to deal with an event in their shared past that neither has really come to terms with.”

The Drive is at Lighthouse on April 7 as part of a spring tour.