MALVERN'S link with some of the great names of British drama in years gone by are highlighted in an exhibition of memorabilia which has just been put on show.

The items recall the glory days of the theatre, when it was closely associated with George Bernard Shaw.

A photographic copy of a portrait of Shaw by the artist Laura Knight is among the items on show, and he also appears in a group painting by Victor Moody, another well-known artist and the founder of Malvern's art school.

A portrait, again by Moody, of the writer J B Priestley, who was also no stranger to the theatre at Malvern, is another one of the works on show.

The pictures used to be on display in the theatre foyer before its redevelopment in the 1990s. This is the first time they have been on public show since then.

The original of a photograph of Shaw, Sir Barry Jackson and the theatre staff, which was reproduced on the Gazette & Reporter's Malvern Memories page a few weeks ago, is also featured.

A series of photographs from the collection of the late Alex Letchford show the interior of the theatre as it was just after the end of the Second World War.

Playbills, props, programmes and other items complete the exhibition. It was put together by Chris Bassett, of Malvern Theatre Players, using items loaned by friends and extracted from the theatre's own archives.

The exhibition is in a wing of the theatre's foyer, off the entrance to the cinema. It will be on show for the next couple of months and is free to visit.