Chickenshed Theatre Company's thought-provoking new production, Kindertransport, explores the devastating impact left by World War Two while also bearing resonance to current issues affecting the world today.

Nine-year-old Eva is sent to Britain for refuge from Nazi Germany, with little more than a suitcase and an identity label and throughout the rest of her life, she is haunted by her wartime experience.

The play stars former Eastenders and Coronation Street actress Michelle Collins and is directed by Lou Stein, who gave Michelle her first acting role when she was 18-years-old in The Crimson Island at the Gate Theatre, which he founded in Notting Hill.

Before the show began, there was a surprise in store for the audience. A mysterious cloaked man asked everyone who was waiting to head into the theatre to stand in pairs, which was slightly awkward at first for those who had come to see the play alone and had to mingle with strangers.

However, the ice was quickly broken as we were transported through the dark corridors of Chickenshed and led to the stage through the back door, in order to give us a glimpse of what it was actually like to experience being taken to a strange and unfamiliar environment by aloof strangers.

Rather than a traditional setting of sitting in rows in front of the stage, the audience was placed in a circle around an oblong stage that had many intriguing objects scattered upon it, including cardboard boxes and stools.

I also noticed various pictures on the wall of real life Kindertransport children, which was a nice touch.

The play itself was split between both the past and present on the stage, as the older Evelyn was haunted by memories of her childhood that her younger self, portrayed by Hope Marks, played out.

Hope impressively stood out among the cast with her portrayal of the young German refugee child who was struggling to make sense of her identity in a time of dangerous uncertainty. Her accent regularly swapped from German to British without fault and she gave a poignant depiction of a girl experiencing the heartbreak of leaving her family behind in a war zone to start a new and safer life for herself in England.

Michelle Collins was also moving, as she kept her emotions on the surface as her character tried to prove to her mother and daughter that she had moved on from her traumatic childhood, but in reality, her feelings of losing her parents were always lurking under her steely surface.

Her character reminded us that even though the Second World War ended more than sixty years ago, the legacy will never disappear and the everlasting horror is something we should all learn from as we enter a new time of political uncertainty in the 21st century.

Kindertransport, Chickenshed Theatre, Chase Side, Southgate, Enfield, N14 4PE, until Saturday, October 22, 7.30pm. Details: 020 8292 9222, chickenshed.org.uk

Star-rating: ****