The Best of Friends is an epistolary play by Hugh Whitemore about the friendship of George Bernard Shaw, Sydney Cockerell and Dame Laurentia McLachlan, based on the lengthy correspondence that passed between them for over 25 years.
Originally produced as a stage play it first ran at the Apollo Theatre in London in 1988, with Ray McAnally as Shaw, Sir John Gielgud as Cockerell, and Rosemary Harris as McLachlan.
[1] In 1991 it was filmed for television, under the direction of Alvin Rakoff, with Patrick McGoohan as Shaw, Sir John Gielgud, and Dame Wendy Hiller.
[3] The play was performed in New York City in 1993 with Roy Dotrice as Shaw, Michael Allinson and Diana Douglas.
It was revived in 2006 at Hampstead Theatre, London and on tour, with Roy Dotrice, Michael Pennington and Patricia Routledge.