NEW works by playwrights old and new rub shoulders with the classics, opera, concert performances and children's theatre for the new summer festival season at Malvern Theatres.

Proudly presenting the packed new programme of events, chief executive Nic Lloyd said: "This is the biggest festival we've tackled. We wanted to get in as many different aspects of the theatre and new people who have not been here before as possible."

Paul Nicholas, of Just Good Friends fame, will start the new season with The Saint's Ian Ogilvy in Snakes and Ladders, a new comedy from Rising Damp writer Eric Chappell.

A revenge thriller by Tudor Gates follows, about a playwright obsessed that his career has been damaged by a drama critic. Who Killed Agatha Christie (July 22-27) stars George Sewell and Lionel Blair.

Brian Cant, of Playaway fame, joins the award-winning Middle Ground Theatre Company to perform The Railway Children (August 13-17).

Three furiously-paced new comedies written by Alan Ayckbourne and performed by his Scarborough-based company should create a stir (August 19-24). The Damsels in Distress trilogy spins three classic Ayckbourne tales into a chronicle of marriage, lust, life, boyfriends, gangsters, mothers, fathers and getting into and out of trouble just in the nick of time. Each play stands on its own, but a Saturday triple bill takes place throughout the day.

Wendy Craig comes to Malvern for the first time to perform with Tony Britton in Somerset Maugham's The Circle (August 26-31).

The Winslow Boy, based on a true story about a 14-year-old expelled from naval college after being accused of stealing a postal order, brings Edward Fox and Simon Ward to Malvern under the direction of Terence Rattigan (September 2-7).

The Carl Rosa Opera returns with a version of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic Venetian operetta, The Gondoliers. The company, which has previously staged The Mikado and Iolanthe, returns with international director Michael McCafferty (September 9-14).

Closing the theatrical season, Malvern favourite Timothy West steps into the demented shoes of Shakespeare's King Lear in an English Touring Theatre production (September 23-28).

Concerts throughout the period will include two performances by Olivier award-winning West End leading lady Ruthie Henshall, singing a selection of hits from shows including Chicago and Cabaret (July 27 and 28).

Principal performers from Covent Garden's Royal Opera House will perform Pure Puccini, solo and duet arias from the likes of Turandot and Tosca.

A three-day musical theatre workshop returns for a second year, offering the chance to work with singing star David Fawcett and musical director Andy Reiss and to structure a mini musical (August 21-23).

On August 24, a cast of past principal performers from Les Miserables will stage songs from top musicals.

The theatre's new film season includes groundbreaking films such as Eric Rohmer's The Lady and the Duke and Walter Salles' Behind the Sun.