Toby Stephens is to star in a new production of Tom Stoppard's 1982 play The Real Thing

Stoppard's comedy examines the complex nature of love, art and reality through the story of Henry, a successful and talented playwright who is married to Charlotte, an actress playing the lead in his current play about adultery. Her co-star and friend Max is married to Annie, also an actor. Henry and Annie have fallen in love but is it any more real than the subjects in Henry's play? As the story unravels, Henry discovers that love - 'the real thing' - can be unpredictable and painful.