Oscar-winning writer Ernest Thompson returns to Portsmouth for the premiere of his new play “Ax of Love,” a decades-long love story that follows a couple from college through adulthood. Thomson will direct the play, which will run at West End Studio Theater, 959 Islington St. in Portsmouth, for three weekends, Feb. 10 through 25. Thomspon will offer comment and take questions from the audience following the shows. The play is produced by Bresette Theater Productions, which also produced “The Penis Responds” with Thompson’s participation in summer 2006.

The cast is led by actress and playwright Laurie Ewer as Candy, the candle-making doctor half of the couple, and actor and producer Josh Bresette as her lover, the brooding poet named Book. Candy’s alcoholic, yet humorous, mother is played by Jarice Hanson, a veteran of Second City Workshop and the Actors Studio in Chicago. Brian Quint, Boston based voiceover, stage, and camera actor, brings his comedic and dramatic talents to bear as Walt, Book’s college friend who becomes a U.S. Senator, and marries Candy’s college roommate, Beulah, played by Newburyport’s Holly Little. Little performs with a number of companies in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis.

Thompson is the author of the seminal love story “On Golden Pond.” While “Ax of Love” has been previously workshopped, this is the true world premiere of this exploration into love’s darker sides. Shows are at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 7 p.m. on Sundays, with a 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Feb. 11 and a 4 p.m. matinee on Saturdays, Feb. 17 and 24. Admission is “pay what you can,” with a suggested donation of $12. For tickets and more information, visit www.btproductions.org.