@ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 26 Sep 2015 (and touring)

There are times when a news story stays with you, long after the headlines, the flashing cameras of the paparazzi and the controversy surrounding the event has died down. Sudha Bhuchar’s My Name Is, begins in the aftermath of the disappearance of the 12-year-old school girl, Molly Campbell, who was thrown under the media spotlight in 2006 when she went to live with her father in Pakistan without her mother’s knowledge, prompting a barrage of negative headlines and an international incident.

Although some details have changed (Molly/Misbah has been renamed Gaby/Ghazala, while her parents have been assigned the names Farhan and Suzy) the play sticks to the story, as the real-life characters remember it. This is one of the most human parts of Bhuchar’s verbatim play, which was taken from interviews with the family in 2008; Bhuchar presents the memories of each person, including the contradictions, the misremembered details, but does so without prejudice. This is not a play that sets out to blame any one person, indeed, it is clear from Miriam Nabarro’s set, which features a large curtain printed with tabloid headlines screaming for Gaby’s return, that the fault for this scandal lies firmly with the press.

The intrusion of the world media casts a shadow across the story, but the source material is bright and beautifully simple. At the heart of it, this play is a retelling of a story. A story of two people brought together through love despite opposition and clashing cultural, religious and societal differences, a story warped and eroded over time, but every word is true. Bhuchar’s script is perfectly realised by the three actors, particularly Karen Bartke and Umar Ahmed, who manage to expertly portray the warring parents at various stages of their lives, from courtship to divorce, making them not just believable, but also utterly likeable too.

Although there are hundreds, if not thousands of plays performed on stages around the UK every year, it is rare to find a play that cannot be faulted. Yet, Philip Osment’s production of My Name Is proves that such productions do exist, as from the script, to the acting, to the staging, the costuming and the lighting, this piece is a triumph of theatrical skill.