THE next production at Bolton Little Theatre is Ariel Dorfman's exceptional drama Death and the Maiden which takes place in the smaller Forge auditorium.

The piece is a moral thriller about a woman, Paulina, who believes that a stranger who comes to her home is the doctor who, under a military dictatorship, tortured and raped her many years before.

The play's title is taken from a piece of music by Franz Schubert; Paulina loved the piece but grew to revile it when it was played repeatedly during her torture sessions.

Dorfman began writing the play in the mid-1980s, when he was in exile from Chile under the rule of the military dictator General Augusto Pinochet.

Director Barry Hall said: "Dorfman's treatment of the subject of human rights abuse is to present his theme as a tense psychological thriller. It is ideally suited to the Forge Theatre.

"Collectively we have spent many hours discovering these people. There is a great deal to understand against the historical, geographical, cultural and, ultimately, political situation that they find themselves exposed to, or indeed, party to."

Tickets are available from the Albert Halls ticket office in Victoria Square telephone 01204 334400 or from the theatre box office on performance nights between 6 and 7.30pm. On Friday, January 23, the cast and director will be holding an after show discussion.