THERE is something very endearing about a long-standing innocent, dragged from his humble existence and cast into and dangerous and romantic world.

Henry Pulling is such a man and - like Boot in Evelyn Waugh's Scoop - his air of bewilderment, suppressed excitement and guilt at enjoying himself underpins the enjoyment for the audience.

Malvern Theatre Players once again demonstrated a talent for picking a good play and its members the versatility to take several different roles, making the cast seem much larger than it actually was.

Continually funny, sometimes sad, always engrossing, Travels with my Aunt took the dahlia-loving retired bank manager from his mother's funeral to Paris, via the Orient Express to Istanbul, and from Argentina to a smuggler's haven in Paraguay.

All this was achieved through the offices of Aunt Augusta (Jan Greig), a free-spirited lady whose lifetime of exotic liaisons and shady friends belie her status as an elderly aunt.

Jan Grieg played Augusta beautifully, with a mix of impish humour and childlike dishonesty offset against the manners of a formidable personality, the sort of lady who built the Empire.

The character of Henry Pulling was shared between Andrew Howie and Lee Farley, alternatively taking part in the live action and then narrating the story.

Both were excellent, maintaining the air of innocent incredulity right to the end, when a sense of the Aunt's elastic moral sense started to filter in. By the end, there was a feeling that perhaps Henry Pulling was not such a fool after all.

The production continues until tomorrow (Saturday).

David Edwards