SECRETS, betrayals, jealousy, love, passion and reconciliation are the stuff of Sam Shephard's drama Fool for Love.

English Touring Theatre is bringing the play to Malvern Theatres from Tuesday (June 26) to Saturday, June 30, having already visited Crewe, Salford, Liverpool, Greenwich and Oxford.

It is a punishing schedule for Julie Graham and Joseph Bennett, who play May and Eddie, a couple reassessing their 15-year tempestuous relationship.

"She runs away but he tracks her down to a seedy motel on the edge of the Mojave Desert and they try to sort out their relationship," said Julie.

"It's highly charged with emotions and pretty relentless but very rewarding. It's quite invigorating to go through that whole journey each night.

"The play is a real modern classic and although it's an American play, the themes are universal. I read it years ago and always wanted to do it."

In this short play - just 70 minutes long - the couple challenge each other's version of past events, reconstructing and re-defining their lives.

Two other characters appear on stage, Ken Christiansen and Paul Moriarty (who was Sgt Wells in A Touch of Frost).

Julie Graham, whose real-life partner is the actor Joe McGann, will be familiar to TV viewers for her appearances in Dirty Tricks with Martin Clunes, Butterfly Collectors with Pete Postlethwaite and the ITV series At Home With the Braithwaites.

"I enjoy film and television but working on the stage with a live audience you get more chance to stretch your acting muscle. There's a special buzz when the audience reacts," she said. "We have had fantastic audiences for this play. They have responded to it really well."

Coming from Glasgow, the actress has an attractive Scottish accent but for this play she exchanges it for a Mid-West drawl.

"I've been to the States quite a few times and the accent comes naturally," she said. "I think we have all grown up hearing so much American."