Welsh actor Matthew Rhys has taken to the stage for one of the West End's most talked about productions.

Rhys stars opposite Hollywood legend Kathleen Turner in the stage version of The Graduate, as Benjamin Braddock, a young man who is seduced by an older woman.

The play is due to open on 5 April to sellout houses at the Gielgud Theatre.

Ticket sales were boosted after theatre-goers discovered Ms Turner appears nude in one scene.

Cardiff-born Rhys said he was delighted to have been chosen for the role, which was played on the big screen by Dustin Hoffman.

"The film is almost an institution in itself," he told BBC Wales.

"Everyone has either seen it or heard of it or heard that Dustin Hoffman played the role."

The 25-year-old Welsh actor has played down the issue of chemistry on stage.

"You just have to get on with it. She is very easy to get on with. The chemistry is very professional, strictly professional."

Turner plays Mrs Robinson - a role made famous by Anne Bancroft in the 1967 film version - who embarks on an affair with a man half her age.

The nude scene in the play occurs when the 45-year-old actress emerges from the shower during her seduction of Benjamin.

She drops her towel to the floor and continues the performance with nothing on.

In the film, Hoffman watches as Bancroft saucily removes her stockings, but she keeps the rest of her clothes on.

Turner - who made her name in Romancing The Stone and Peggy Sue Gets Married - does not appear to have been phased by all the fuss.

When asked if she was too old to appear naked on stage, she told London's Evening Standard newspaper: "You'll have to ask the audience. It's up to them to decide."

But she was full of praise for her co-star: "You know if an actor is good or not and he is good."