IINTERNATIONAL theatre comes to Dorchester Arts next week with one of the most hard-hitting stories of modern literature.

Doubt: A Parable is the Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of a priest and nun locked in combat over her suspicions that he has abused a young black boy in their care.

Written by John Patrick Shanley five years ago, it was most recently made into a highly-acclaimed film starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Now it is being brought to the county town by PDL Extension Theatre Company, a collective of four actors – two from Zimbabwe, two from Dorset – led by Dorchester-based director Mel Hooley.

The Zimbabwean actors are Kevin Hanssen, who plays the role of progressive father Flynn, and Anne Fischer, the rigidly straight-laced Sister Aloysius, who are both held in high regard in their country.

The local performers are Katie Davis, who runs the Treading the Boards theatre group, and Molly Jackson from Poole.

Director Mel said: “It is quite heavy material.

“It is set in a convent in the Bronx and is a battle between a very conservative Sister and a priest who is very go-ahead.

“She tries to pin this thing on him that he has fiddled with the only black boy in the convent, but it is not clear-cut.

“It is up to the audience to decide what is the truth – it’s powerful stuff. We have been trying for a long time to make up our minds about it and are still none the wiser.”

Mel, who has a degree in drama from Cape Town University, started off in broadcasting before deciding that her real talents lay in theatre direction.

She has already staged an evening of two one-act plays at Dorchester Arts earlier this year and hopes to do the same next spring.

In the meantime, she is devoting all her energies to Doubt – and the cast will be in South Street on the morning of Saturday, August 14, playing the saxophone and touting for trade.

Doubt is at Dorchester Arts in School Lane, The Grove, Dorchester, from Thursday to Saturday, August 19 to 21. Performances are at 8pm and tickets are £8 plus concessions from the box office on 01305 266926 or in person.