A CONTROVERSIAL new play exploring every parent's worst nightmare is staged at Poole's Lighthouse Centre for the Arts this week.

Missing is aimed at nine to 12-year-olds and looks at what happens when a child disappears.

Performed by theatre Centre, which has been producing plays for children for 50 years, Missing is set on a school summer trip to an Elizabethan theme park.

A child disappears in the middle of the night and her friends try to find her.

Searching deep into the starlit forest, they are confronted by a mysterious Elizabethan stranger.

Lighthouse programmer Helen Donaldson comments: "A play about a lost child is an unusual subject for nine to 12-year-olds, but kids of this age are frequently frightened by the TV or movies, so why not theatre?

"Theatre Centre are one of the longest established and well-loved companies in the UK.

"Missing promises to deliver edge-of-the-seat entertainment for an age group too old for Noddy and too young for Agatha Christie."

Missing is at Lighthouse at 10.30am and 1.30pm on Friday, 27th June and 2pm on Saturday 28th June. Tickets cost £6. Box office: 01202 685222.