Star quality is something Penelope Keith knows all about, having first found fame in the 70s TV sitcom The Good Life.

It is an experience she can draw on as she mimics the antics of a 1950s temperamental leading lady in a recently rediscovered play by Noel Coward.

Star Quality was found on a shelf in an agent's office by actor Christopher Luscombe, who directs the world premiere at the Malvern Theatres.

Luscombe adapted the 1951 script with Penelope Keith in mind. As luck would have it, she had used a speech from Coward's original short story for a 1963 audition with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, with whom she remained for several seasons.

So, with the actress agreeing to play the lead in the rediscovered play, the pair took the project to producer Bill Kenwright.

Based in the 1950s, the show takes its audience behind the scenes of a new West End production, conjuring up an authentic backstage world of talent and treachery.

Other characters include a ruthless director, jaded old troupers and, caught somewhere between them all, an innocent playwright. From tentative first rehearsal to triumphant opening night, the clash of egos becomes increasingly bloody until the most elusive gift of all, star quality, emerges from the mayhem.

Joining Penelope Keith in the cast are Una Stubbs (In Sickness and in Health) and Russel Boulter (DS Bolton in The Bill). The play is soon to be published in a new adaptation by Methueum.

Performances at Malvern run from Monday to Saturday, September 22 at 8pm, with matinees at 2.30pm on Wednesday and Saturday. Tickets are £16 to £24. Contact Malvern Theatres' box office on 01684 892277 or www.malvern-theatres.co.uk.