The story of playwright Joe Orton and his lover, one-time literary mentor, and eventual murderer Kenneth Halliwell, is being brought to Richmond Theatre this month in a new play, Prick Up Your Ears (August 26-29), by Simon Bent.

The production will see Little Britain’s Matt Lucas tread the boards as Halliwell with Chris New joining him as Orton and Richmond Theatre patron Gwen Taylor playing the pair’s neighbour, Mrs Corden.

Prick Up your Ears is set in the small Islington flat the couple shared for eight years, in 1962. It charts their years of struggle to succeed in the literary world, followed by the chronicling of the disintegration of their relationship as Orton’s career went stellar, thanks to plays such as Loot and Entertaining Mr Sloane.

This splintering was to have tragic consequences, as on August 8, 1967, Halliwell bludgeoned Orton to death with a hammer before killing himself.

Playwright Bent, who has previously had his work performed at the National Theatre and the Globe, says it was the chance to explore Halliwell and Orton’s relationship that made the project enticing.

“I am a big fan of Orton and was drawn to the subject after reading his diaries and John Lahr’s book Prick Up your Ears,” he explains.

“Why did Orton stay with this man whom everyone said was awful? I wanted to delve deeper into the relationship.”

Orton met Halliwell at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1951 and was taken under the wing of the man who was seven years his senior and they became lovers.

In the early 60s, both men vented their frustration at their failure to establish themselves on the literary scene by committing acts of cultural anarchy that Bent documents in the play. Most famously, they stole and vandalised a number of books from Islington Library, a crime for which they were imprisoned.

This short spell behind bars had different but equally crucial impacts on the men. Whereas Orton found the inspiration to write his best-known plays, Halliwell was left envious and angry that his former protegé was making a name for himself, an anger fuelled by Orton’s promiscuity.

“The flat was the size of a broom cupboard so they were in each other’s presence all the time,” says Bent. “Going to prison gave Joe privacy for the first time in his life. He was able to use his time to point out the injustice and absurdity of British society.

“For Halliwell, though, it was too much to bear – he could only internalise it as shame and failure. When they came back from prison, Kenneth went from being Joe’s mentor to being an appendage.”

When Halliwell murdered Orton, he snuffed out a unique talent and Bent says the shadow of the crime hangs over Prick Up Your Ears.

“The play should be very funny – I wanted to infuse it with Orton-esque humour – but you can’t get away from the tragic ending,” he says. “I have tried to remain true to what we know of them and who they were as people.”

Prick up Your Ears, Richmond Theatre, August 26 to 29, visit ambassadortickets.com