Of all the odd encounters in history, the series of tete-a-tetes between media mogul Robert Maxwell and then-living saint Mother Teresa must be among the most unlikely.

Set in 1988, only three years away from his date with a watery grave, The Bargain sees Maxwell trying to get the world's most famous nun to endorse his new world encyclopaedia of religions, having engineered a meeting with her through his newspaper's campaign to raise cash for the British homeless.

But he hadn't reckoned with Mother Teresa's own agenda, as she demanded a financial contribution to her global network of 150 convents.

The story is based on the series of real-life meetings between the pair which occurred when the woman they called the Angel Of Mercy visited London's cardboard city.

The play is writer Ian Curteis's first new piece for the stage in 23 years, as he has worked principally for radio and television over the past two decades.

According to veteran director James Roose-Evans, The Bargain had a long gestation period. "Eight years ago Ian wrote to me with the idea for the play," he says.

"I said, You had better write it.' I got the first draft 18 months ago, sent it back with comments and notes, and the final draft arrived a year ago."

Taking the lead roles of Maxwell and Mother Teresa are Michael Pennington and Anna Calder-Marshall, with Susan Hampshire playing Mother Teresa's assistant. Maxwell's penthouse apartment is the setting for what James calls a "David and Goliath story".

"You have this great, hulking giant of a bully in Maxwell and this tiny, sympathetically vulnerable nun," James says. "They are two complex characters."

The play is not a documentary piece but more an imaginative construction - after all, the only two people who really know what happened in those meetings are no longer with us.

"They are two people from similar backgrounds," James says. "They are both Europeans, both are single-minded characters and both saw horrors as they grew up. Maxwell's whole family was wiped out in Auschwitz and Mother Teresa saw thousands of people killed in Albania."

But there are also big differences between the two. Mother Teresa, of course, had great willingness to reach out to the needy - while Maxwell hated being reminded of the poverty he grew up in.

Part of the play revolves around the insight Mother Teresa has into the portly tycoon's life.

James says: "She is able to penetrate through all his defences, and nobody has ever done that before.

"What moves the audience is seeing the monster crumble and develop a degree of humility."

James is hoping the black comedy will not be the end of his collaboration with Ian Curteis. "It has taken 23 years between the last play and this one," he says.

"I have said to him to get on with his next play so I'm still alive to do it!"

  • Starts 7.45pm, Thurs and Sat matinees 2.30pm, tickets from £16.

Call 08700 606650.