The tale of an unusual pairing facing an uncertain future will take to the stage this month.

Pat Abernethy and Dave Marsden will play the Vampire and Mrs Riley at the Colour House Theatre in a play written by Patrick Prior.

The production is based on a real-life pairing of Arthur Lucan, a British drag act, and Bela Lugosi, a fading Hollywood horror star, who were thrown together in 1952 to make a movie called Mother Riley Meets the Vampire.

Beneath the washerwoman’s apron and the vampire’s cloak are two men who stand at the crossroads of life.

The Vampire and Mrs Riley is at the Colour House Theatre, Merton Abbey Mills, on Thursday, March 19, from 7.30pm. Tickets cost £9 or £7 for concessions. http://colourhousetheatre.co.uk.