THE SIXTIES are often credited as the age for free love, but over in Russia at the time of the 1917 Russian Revolution a serious competitor to the title was causing a stir.

At the time 'punk poet' Vladimir Mayakovsky was attempting to live out his ideal of free love in a mnage a trois with husband and wife couple Lili and Osip Brik.

Now the trials and tribulations of his life have been turned into a play that is on at the Lighthouse centre in Poole next Monday and Tuesday at 8pm.

The play takes its name from the title of Mayakovsky's most famous play, A Cloud in Trousers, and follows the threesome as they work their relationship out without jealousy giving rise to difficulties - it apparently worked well.

His reputation as a poet has seen him labelled as Russia's greatest and given rise to comparisons with an Eastern and Central European equivalent of Shakespeare. His innovative style of writing that was well before his time is a contributory factor to the play's rich tapestry of sex, art, politics and love.

John Sackville, 33, who originally comes from Poole and now lives in London, plays Mayakovsky and called playing at the Lighthouse "coming home".

He said: "It's a really interesting part to play because Mayakovsky was such an extraordinary man, an incredible poet and social revolutionary - a real rebel of his time."

Tickets cost £9 plus concessions, call 01202 685222 to book.