Following their sold-out run of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Roman Theatre of Verulamium in July, OVO turns their attention to the emotional play based on the real-life relationship between British writer CS Lewis and American poet Joy Gresham.

The St Albans theatre company are set to return to the Maltings Arts Theatre for a two-weekend run with William Nicholson’s Shadowlands, September 21 to 23 and then 28 to 30.

Director Ed White says: “OVO’s production will remain faithful to the vision of the original stage version, which is cerebral and emotional by turns.

“The journey that Clive and Joy go through, which is both heart breaking and uplifting in equal measure, has been captured beautifully by the hugely talented Paul Manuel and Jill Priest in the lead roles, who have been supported by a first-rate ensemble cast and backstage crew, all of whom have made the process of directing this play a great privilege.”

Comfortable in his life at Oxford University, in the play Clive is smug in his convictions about God and his world. That is, until Joy and her young son enter his life, turning it upside down, and forcing this theoretician of love in the abstract to finally confront its direct presence.

First performed in the West End in 1989 being nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play, Shadowlands was later adapted for screen in the 1993 film starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger

St Albans theatre company, OVO, took control of the theatre in 2011, when it was under threat of closure, and since then has been working with external production companies and associate partners to bring the good times back to The Maltings.

The Maltings Arts Theatre, Level 2, The Maltings, St Albans, AL1 3HL. Details: ticketsource.co.uk/ovo and maltingsartstheatre.co.uk