By Grace Hatchell sporting a blue bag.

I’ve always maintained that a trip to IKEA needs careful planning. You go in for a bookshelf, lose your bearings somewhere near the wardrobes and emerge wondering whether you’ve bought enough screws.

In I Can See The Sun, a mother and daughter make it out of the shop, only to take a wrong turn at Goole and end up lost in a mysterious wood on the North York Moors.

Suddenly, assembling a chest of drawers looks like the straightforward part of the day.

Written and directed by Tania Khan, this surreal, darkly humorous drama comes to the Hope Theatre in London from 12 to 21 November 2026, produced by Light The Night Theatre.

The play takes inspiration from Dante’s Divine Comedy. Now, I’m no stranger to a difficult journey, particularly when somebody’s put a diversion on my delivery round, but this particular route sounds as though it requires more than a satnav and a packet of emergency biscuits.

Lost in the “Dark Wood”, our mother and daughter encounter a stranger in the dead of night.

Is he a hunter out to steal hearts? Or a moorland hiker who’s seen the light?

I’d have a few questions before following either of them, starting with whether they know where the car park is.

With a river ahead and the darkness closing in, the pair face a choice: row towards deeper despair or find their way back to the car before sunrise.

It’s an intriguing starting point for a play exploring ancestral inheritance, hope and redemption. Family baggage can be awkward enough to carry on an ordinary outing. Add a mysterious stranger and a potentially symbolic river, and you’ve got rather more to unpack than the shopping.

The production follows a year of development supported by ArcolaLAB, with emerging interdisciplinary company Light The Night Theatre bringing together drama and visual storytelling.

Earlier responses to the work-in-progress showcase offer a flavour of that approach. Everything Theatre praised its visual beauty and ambitious ideas, while The Reviews Hub singled out Jessica Brauner’s video work for creating an evocative woodland setting.

Those responses relate to the developing show, but they do suggest the wood will have a presence of its own. Quite right, too. If a forest is going to interfere with your journey home, it ought to make an effort.

The cast features Karen Cass as Lucy, Ethan Dillon as Noah and Tania Khan as Grace.

Another Grace. I wish her well, although I suspect she’s having a more complicated evening than I am.

Alongside Khan as writer and director, the creative team includes associate director Hope Wishart, designer Alice Edgar and videographer Jessica Brauner.

There’s something wonderfully unsettling about taking a familiar situation—a mother and daughter driving home from a shopping trip—and letting it wander into strange territory. One moment you’re thinking about where the new furniture will go; the next you’re considering hope, redemption and whether that bloke among the trees can be trusted.

I’ll be interested to see where this journey leads. Though if anyone suggests stopping at IKEA on the way home, I’m checking the route myself.

I Can See The Sun runs at the Hope Theatre, 207 Upper Street, London N1 1RL, from 12 to 21 November 2026, with performances Tuesday to Saturday at 7pm.

Tickets are £18, £16 concessions and £10 for the preview. Visit the Hope Theatre website or call the box office on 0333 666 3366 to book.