When Tintin has a dream and sees his friend Chang lying in the snow, he is determined to rescue him.

He then finds out that the youngster has been on a plane that has crashed in the Himalayas, but does not lose hope of finding him alive. His constant companion, Captain Haddock, tells the young reporter he is mad and should not go, but Tintin insists and the Captain reluctantly accompanies him.

Tintin tells the old sea dog: "Captain, I am convinced that Chang is alive. Maybe it's stupid, but there it is. And since I believe that he's alive, I'm going to look for him."

Such courage and loyalty is demonstrated by the boyish reporter throughout Hergé's Adventures of Tintin, but never more so than in Tintin in Tibet. Tintin refuses to give up on his friend Chang, even though Sherpas report that they have seen the wreckage of the plane and there are no survivors.

This dramatic plot paves the way for a stirring rescue mission in which Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock and a team of guides battle the elements (plus an Abominable Snowman), in their bid to rescue Chang.

The story, started in 1958 and completed in 1959, became Hergé's favourite Tintin adventure, and is so memorable that it became the obvious choice for dramatisation.

After a successful run at the Barbican, the play, written by Rufus Norris and David Greig, is embarking on a national tour, which reaches the Oxford Playhouse on Tuesday, August 14.

Director Rufus Norris told The Guide that Herge's Adventures of Tintin was a family show which would appeal to adults, teenagers and children as young as seven. He added: "Tintin in Tibet is the best story - it has a lot more depth than the other books and has real emotional grounding.

"It's a song to friendship. There are no villains and there is a great deal of humanity in it. It is emotionally engaging and lends itself very well to visual interpretation.

"The story starts in the Alps and then moves to the Himalayas, so it is not too difficult to represent on stage. Those people who have read the comic book have iconic expectations about what they expect to see, so we have to be incredibly rigorous with the costuming and the whole set design, but we have not sacrificed the drama.

"We have an Abominable Snowman and there is a levitation scene. We also use a real dog in each show to play Snowy and at each venue we try to find a suitable mutt for the job. Oxford is only the second venue on the national tour, so we are really looking forward to it. Hergé was ahead of his time in his graphic use of colour and line, so we should not be too ambitious in terms of honouring that theatrically, but we do have a very good cast."

Mr Norris said he got to know the Tintin stories well through reading the books with his two sons, Louis, 10, and Hector, five.

And he expects quite a few young fans to be in the audience when Tintin comes to the Playhouse. All that remains now is to find a small white dog with a taste for whisky and chicken legs.

Herge's Adventures of Tintin is at the Oxford Playhouse from Tuesday, August 14 to Saturday, August 25.

AUTHOR'S FAVOURITE: Tintinin Tibet is the 20th book in the series. It is said to have been Hergé's favourite and was written during a personally difficult time, as he was divorcing his first wife.

The story is unlike any other Tintin book. There are no villains and only a small number of characters. It is also unusually emotional.

The idea to set a story in Tibet was suggested by Jacques Van Melkebeke, one of Hergé's assistants, in 1954. Hergé had been plagued by nightmares, in which he found himself in a white, featureless world.

Tintin's friend Chang, who we first met in The Blue Lotus, is modelled on Hergé's real-life friend Zhang Chongren, who had taught him about China and Chinese culture for Blue Lotus, and whom Hergé had lost contact with at the time of Tintin in Tibet. Tintin's efforts to find Chang parallelled Hergé's and they both eventually succeeded.

The idea of making the Yeti a sympathetic character was suggested by Fanny Vlamynck, a colourist at Studios Hergé, who would later become Hergé's second wife. Fanny also shared Hergé's interest in oriental philosophy that is evident in the story.