A SPARKLING new production combining the comic genius of Noel Coward and the acting talents of the quintessentially English Susan Hampshire kicks off the new year at Malvern Theatres.

Relative Values is a glittering comedy set in the early 1950s which highlights a collision between starry Hollywood and stiff-upper-lip England in which Coward takes a light-hearted look at the changing face of post-war Britain.

The news that the Earl of Marshwood is to make a Hollywood movie starlet his second wife comes as a great shock to both his mother the Countess and her maid Moxie.

It transpires that the hussy is actually Moxie's long lost sister who she has not seen for more twenty years.

The Countess feels duty-bound to force matters to a hasty conclusion - the marriage cannot go ahead.

With the help of her nephew and long-serving butler, the Countess puts her plans into action by setting off a series of entanglements and misunderstandings, which results in a feast of hilarity.

Susan Hampshire revives the role she made her own in the1993 West End production.

Theatre Royal Bath Productions presents Relative Values, directed by Joe Harmston, from Tuesday, January 29, until Saturday, February 2.

Performances start at 8pm with Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm and a post-show discussion on Thursday, January 31.

Tickets cost £14-£22 from the box office on 01684 892277.