A TRANSATLANTIC friendship that spanned 20 years will be explored in the play 84 Charing Cross Road at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham.

The bittersweet story of the correspondence between vivacious New York writer Helene Hanff and London bookseller Frank Doel opens on Monday.

Beginning in 1949 with an advert in the Saturday Review, their letters not only chart their blossoming friendship but also become a chronicle of an era from post-war Britain to the Beatles invasion of the 1960s.

From an initial request for a rare book, their letters change and grow into funny and often intimate correspondence.

The show stars Rula Lenska, best known for her performance in Rock Follies, who has also recently starred in the West End production of An Inspector Calls, EastEnders and the Vagina Monologues at the Everyman last February.

She will star alongside William Gaunt, a childhood hero of many for his role in the television series The Champions and a familiar face on television with credits like No Place Like Home and Next of Kin with Penelope Keith.

The show is directed by James Roose-Evans, who first brought the play to the West End and Broadway.

There will be the chance to meet the cast over coffee and biscuits following the matinee performance on Thursday, May 20.

For people with hearing difficulties, there will be a sign language interpreted performance on Wednesday, May 19. The show runs until next Saturday, and tickets starting at £8.50 are available from the box office on 01242 572573.