Letters spanning a lifelong love affair have been getting a first class delivery this week in the Abbey Theatre Studio.

For just three nights, the Company of Ten has been putting on Love Letters by A. R. Gurney, a play in which the two characters read the missives that go between them from childhood through to the death of one of them.

But it is far more than just two people reading out their letters to each other. Their reactions and emotions are on show throughout.

Thus we have Melissa yawning and showing all the signs of boredom as Andrew recounts his rowing experiences and later sends her a Christmas round robin letter.

He, in turn, demonstrates panic as she pleads to see him as he climbs the political ladder.

Love Letters is a surprisingly gripping production, performed over the years by such celebrities as Linda Grey and Larry Hagman and Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal.

In the hands of the Company of Ten and in the confines of the Studio, two of the company’s finest performers act out the parts.

Rosemary Goodman is Melissa Gardner, a giddy, bibulous young woman whose later life takes in motherhood, divorce and turmoil as she tries to see her estranged daughters.

Terry Prince as Andrew Makepeace Ladd III is of a far calmer and more measured disposition except when it comes to his relationship with Melissa.

The denouement is an unashamed tearjerker and the Studio was totally hushed as it unfolded.

Love Letters is directed by Tina Swain who admits it is not like directing a normal production but had its challenges nevertheless.

She directs with a light touch and allows her two seasoned protagonists to act out their responses to the letters in their own way.

The end result is a compelling evening that inevitably draws you into the world of the two characters through their own written words.

The decision to have a short run for Love Letters is because the current Company of Ten season is ending with a New Writing Festival that runs from next Wednesday, July 3 until July 13.

From 72 initial entries, 13 have been selected to be presented during the fortnight-long festival.

All of the shortlisted one-act plays are new to the Studio where they will be performed and each evening there will be a different programme.

Each script is no more than 45 minutes long and audiences will be asked to provide feedback on what they have seen.

For further details of the plays and to obtain tickets at £5 each night, go to www.abbeytheatre.org.uk.