ANITA and Me opens at Wolverhampton's Grand Theatre on Valentine's Day.

Based on the comedian Meera Syal’s book, the coming-of-age play follows a young girl growing up in the only Punjabi family in a 1970s Black Country mining village.

Meena spends her days happily getting into scrapes with the other local children until one day, the impossibly cool Anita enters her life.

Suddenly Meena knows exactly who she wants to be but is Anita all that she seems?

Soon Meena's world is turned upside down as she is caught between two very different cultures.

The play stars Shobna Gulati, best known for roles in Coronation Street and Dinner Ladies and Black Country actor Aaron Virdee, who looks forward to touring the UK with a play that’s very close to home – in every sense of the word.

He said: “When I first started in the industry my local accent was never really used but I find as time is progressing, the industry is opening up to more regional accents – I’m starting to get work now where I can use my Midlands accent.

“I play Uncle Amman and Mr Bhatra. Amman is the typical, successful, mid-thirties gentleman who owns a textiles firm. Mr Bhatra works for Wolverhampton Council and is actually more English than he is Indian, so it’s nice to have that contrast and a mixture of cultures, it’s a really diverse piece.”

Tickets for the show, which runs from February 14-18, are available via www.grandtheatre.co.uk or by calling the box office on 01902 429212.