Theatr Pena's production of Frank Marcus's The Killing of Sister George comes to Newport's Riverfront Theatre next month

It’s 1965. The BBC radio soap, Applehurst, is losing listeners and the axe is about to fall on its most popular character.

By day June Buckridge, an aging actress, plays cheery, maternal district nurse Sister George on the BBC radio soap Applehurst. By night she chews on cigars, swills gin and vents her frustrations and anger on her much younger flatmate, Alice. But behind her brutish exterior is a fragile, insecure woman all too aware of her fading powers of attraction and terrified that her life will fall apart when she loses the security of her regular job.

Following the company’s acclaimed productions of The House of Bernarda Alba, The Trojan Women and The Maids, Theatr Pena is back this year with the 1965 hit comedy drama The Killing of Sister George by Frank Marcus.

When it premiered in the 1960s, this poignant and darkly funny play shocked audiences with its depiction of a lesbian relationship. For today’s audiences The Killing of Sister George is less a comment on lesbianism and more a window into the nepotistic world of celebrity and the fickleness of fame.

Allegedly inspired by the death of Grace Archer in BBC Radio 4's The Archers, the action revolves around a woman for whom the demise of the beloved character she plays in a radio soap spells her own personal apocalypse and is a story with strong resonances with today’s celebrity, soap-fuelled culture. It explores the gap between public appearance and private reality, loneliness and emotional dependence - significant themes for a contemporary audiences.

Theatr Pena is looking forward to the challenge of getting to grips with something of a departure from their previous work. Often overshadowed by the more lurid and sexually explicit film by Robert Aldridge, the company sees this as an opportunity to bring this groundbreaking play to the attention of contemporary audiences and once again to put women centre-stage.

The production will set the play firmly in the context of the social, cultural and political period in which it was written and this evocation of 1960s London will be created by set, costume and lighting design and an exciting 1960s soundtrack.

The domineering but fragile June Buckridge is played by one of Wales’s most experienced and talented stage and television actresses Christine Pritchard.

Christine played Poncia in the company’s inaugural production, The House of Bernarda Alba, and last appeared on stage in The Riverfront as Claire in The Maids and in the Torch Theatre in the role of Mrs Grose the housekeeper in Peter Doran’s acclaimed production of Turn of the Screw. Born in Caernarfon, Christine will be returning home when the company perform The Killing of Sister George in Galeri where she last appeared in the popular Pocket Pena programme, Merched Yn Bennaf.

June’s artful, child-like flatmate,Alice McNaught, is played by talented Hannah O Leary.

Hannah was Assistant Director on The Maids and was last seen on stage at The Riverfront in the role of Martirio in The House of Bernarda Alba. Born in Cardiff, Hannah grew up and went to school in Milford Haven and was a member of the Torch Youth Theatre.

Ruthless BBC Producer, Mercy Croft, is played by experienced and accomplished actress and singer, Rosamund Shelley.

Rosamund has played leading roles in all three of Theatr Pena’s previous productions. She was Bernarda in The House of Bernarda Alba, Hecuba in The Trojan Women and Madame in The Maids.

Catch The Killing of Sister George at The Riverfront from March 5 to March 8. Visit newport.gov.uk/theriverfront for ticket details