O verheard in the auditorium during the interval: it’s like Tales of the Unexpected meets Jackanory. But if those references are dated by several decades, they go some way to summing up the strange mix of elements in this drama about a boy who goes missing from a village, and the ancient myth of a “green man” who might have something to do with it.

But then, Max Porter’s novel , on which it is based, weaves so many seemingly incongruent parts together to create its own beautiful brand of rural noir. It might be better described as The Missing meets This Country meets Stranger Things, except the Upside Down here is English countryside.

The story follows townie couple Robert (Raj Bajaj) and Jolie (Hanora Kamen), who move to the sticks and are just settling in when their otherworldly son, Lanny (Lucian Thomas on press night), goes missing. A local artist (Richard Cant), dubbed “Mad Pete” – for his bohemianism or, as a gay man in these parts, for his sexuality?…