WHEN a 12-year-old girl sneaks across the border of her own country, her parents watch her on a computer screen, in Instructions For Border Crossing at the York Theatre Royal Studio on Wednesday.

"The works of a half-forgotten performance artist seem to hold the key to bringing down a brutal system operating on our behalf and under our noses. Do you join in? Or do you look the other way?" asks writer and performer Daniel Bye in his touring show that first played the Edinburgh Fringe.

Directed by Alec Swift, Instructions For Border Crossing explores the violence of borders in our unstable world. How far is it necessary to go in order to make a difference? When is it OK to do nothing?

"Formally, the show combines experimental storytelling with a highly-activated audience," says Daniel. "Two volunteers discuss their fears over a game of Jenga. Another provides the lighting for the next scene, a third produces the sound with an effects microphone and a fan. The entire audience voices a hostile border guard and an individual stands up in defiance of authority. The result is the exposed gearbox of a political thriller."

Bye is a theatre maker from Middlesbrough, now based in Lancaster. His touring work includes Going Viral, winner of a Scotsman Fringe First at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe, and his show for young audiences, Error 404, commissioned by Polka Theatre.

He has performed The Price Of Everything 100 times in Britain and internationally and won awards for How To Occupy An Oil Rig. He wrote Full Of Noises for West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, and has directed for Theatre 503, Silver Tongue Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse.

His storytelling tour inspired by the forgotten grassroots history of a town, Story Hunt, has been created bespoke for Stockton, Gateshead, Margate, Berwick, Northampton, Heckmondwike and Middlesbrough. In early 2016 the follow-up, Tiny Heroes, premiered in Exeter.

Among his large-scale original work for community performers, Wonderstruck, for Manchester Museum and People United, featured more than 100 performers and five choirs. He is an associate artist of ARC Stockton and a member of the Fence network of international writers and theatre makers.

Tickets for Wednesday's 7.45pm performance are on sale on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk