Dan Nolan . . . Missing, Oaklands Community School, Southampton

I CAN'T remember the last time I saw a grown man, a stranger, cry in front of me. Or, for that matter, sat in a room of people gripped by mutual sorrow and unspeakable heartache.

This play about the tragic evening that the 15-year-old Hamble boy went missing after a fishing trip with friends will haunt everyone who witnesses it.

It's a gripping human drama that will appeal to - and appall - anyone with a heart.

As the tale of a family in freefall unfolded, slowly and silently loved ones sought out each others' hands and clasped them tightly in the darkness to a chorus of staccato sniffs and muffled sobs.

A row of young lads were trying desperately to hide their embarrassed tears in front of their mates - who wouldn't have noticed anyway because they too were sobbing.

Also in the audience, the play's central characters - Dan's mum Pauline Nolan and her daughter Claire - watched themselves portrayed by the young amateur thespians from Oaklands Youth Theatre.

The performance is based on real conversations with the family and instead of a script there has been an editing process where their statements have been fused into a coherent and powerful dialogue.

Dan's last known movements are brought to life as well as the events leading up to and just after his disappearance at Hamble Quay on New Year's Day.

It raises questions of the police who appeared slow to act. It took them a week to print missing posters, CCTV footage from the village was only analysed after the family prompted and key information took months to uncover because witnesses were not thoroughly quizzed.

The overriding impression from the play is that the police assumed the worst had happened to Dan and were not prepared to put resources into a manhunt.

But the family, it becomes clear, are adamant that their precious son and brother is still alive. Throughout the play they press a disturbing case that all avenues have not been explored.

Every person who has fallen into the Hamble and drowned has had their body recovered. The longest it has taken for a body to surface is four months. Dan went missing 11 months ago.