SIX theatre companies were put in the hat for an international artistic exchange with the backing of the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.

One from Portugal, one from Italy, and two from Canada (Toronto and Vancouver) were possible partners, but Pilot Theatre, the ever-progressive resident company at York Theatre Royal, were drawn with the Australian Theatre for Young People in an arts Ashes clash.

Their challenge was to work together on Outsiders, Nottingham playwright Emteaz Hussain's topical re-imagining of Albert Camus' L'Entranger, in an exploration of the impact of migration and immigration on communities: a subject making headline news around the world.

Three weeks of rehearsal have taken place in the Black Box Theatre of the Theatre, Film and Television building at the University of York's Heslington East campus before the Pilot tour began at Cast in Doncaster last week.

The show will play the University of York until Saturday and will visit Hull Truck Theatre on November 17 and 18 as part of an itinerary that will run until November 28.

The choice of playwright, play and even the cast – Lou Broadbent and Sara Sadeghi – were in place already when Australian Theatre for Young People artistic director Fraser Corfield took up the reins to direct the Pilot production.

Already Pilot had sent Alex Evans to The Wharf in Sydney to direct the Australian company in Angela Betzien's War Crimes and Fraser has headed to York in exchange. "The theme for all six companies to deal with is immigration, with the original project being brought about by EU cultural funding to look at migration and immigration," says Fraser.

"It's a fascinating subject from an Australian perspective because migration has been an issue for years and years with the government dealing with it in a very draconian way.

"In Australia it's a very hot and divisive topic, and of course Australia was completely founded on migration, so there's a sense of migration fatigue in our theatre, but the way Emteaz has addressed this issue in Outsiders has given it distance and allows the audience to place it in a modern context."

Emteaz drew on her conversations with people who had arrived in Nottingham "from elsewhere" to re-tell Camus' story from a different viewpoint. Namely two often-forgotten women – Broadbent's Marie and Sadeghi's Sumaya – who are trying to come to terms with the traumatic events of their past.

The sun was beating down on the beach when five shots rang out and a nameless Arab man fell to the ground. Dead. Many years later, the two aforementioned women, one French, the other Algerian, look up at the blue sky and wonder what really happened to their lives that day and ponder who they and each other are now.

"One of the things I love about Emteaz's script is that it has a classical feel to it; two characters wrestling with their existential crisis," says Fraser. "Unlike Pilot's multi-media shows, this isn't a visually-driven piece of theatre. It's absolutely character-driven.

"Talking to Emteaz, she was saying how much she loves the work of Samuel Beckett and the classical writers, and what's interesting is her focus on the women, whereas Camus was looking at a man who didn't fit into society and doesn't connect with the world emotionally, but Emteaz's women are very emotionally connected to it."

Outsiders will be staged by Pilot Theatre in the Black Box Studio, Department of Theatre, Film and Television, Heslington East Campus, University of York, at 2pm and 7.30pm today and 7.30pm tomorrow and Saturday.

York tickets can be booked on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Hull Truck, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.

The tour also will take in Barnsley, Derby, Liverpool, London, Huddersfield and Bristol.