TWO top actors will be teamed with one of Europe's most celebrated modern playwrights at Malvern next week.

Yazmin Reza wrote the massively successful Art and The Unexpected Man, another of her favourite creations, is coming to the Festival Theatre on its first UK tour.

It stars Peter Bowles, who became a national favourite in To The Manor Born, and Sin Phillips, famous for her many television roles including on I Claudius. She was last at Malvern in a play by Pam Gems, Marlene, for which her performance received Olivier, Tony and Drama Desk nominations.

The Unexpected Man is set on a train travelling from Paris to Frankfurt. Two strangers sit opposite each other - Paul Parsky, a successful but cynical writer, and Martha, a widow who is an admirer of his work and who recognises him as the author of the novel in her handbag.

He is glum, travelling to see his daughter marry an older man with an unpleasant voice and she is uncomfortable not knowing how to read her book written by a famous author sitting opposite.

Malvern Theatres spokeswoman Louise Russell explained: "They don't speak to each other but their thoughts pour out in dazzling monologues about their loves, lives, art and fiction."

The two stars will be taking part in a celebrity lunch to raise money for Malvern Theatres at The Colwall Park Hotel on June 3. Tickets are £35 from the box office.

While there is drama in the Festival Theatre, there will be fantasy in the Forum Theatre with a show called Aurlia's Oratorio.

Victoria Thiere Chaplin is directing her daughter Aurlia in an evening of family entertainment which promises to bring dreams to life and take the audience on a journey to a place where the impossible can happen.

Aurlia Thiere has performed as an actress and illusionist since she was very young. Her mother and her father, Jean-Baptiste Thiere, have been pioneers of new circus with their groundbreaking companies Cirque Invisible and Cirque Imaginaire.

Box office: 01684 892277.