IT’S back to the 1970s at Malvern’s Festival Theatre later this month for the return of a popular comedy from one of the country’s leading playwrights, Alan Ayckbourn.

To be exact, it is summer 1974 and a well-intentioned tea party descends into chaos.

Wealthy, unfulfilled housewife Diana arranges a gathering of old friends to cheer up bereaved Colin, whose fiancée drowned two months earlier.

Enter onto the scene Paul, her bullying, self-absorbed husband, who has recently had a dalliance with Evelyn, the glamorous wife of his friend and incompetent business associate, John, and the party is completed by long-suffering Marge, who has left Gordon, her hypochondriac spouse, ailing at home.

Preparations for the party spark tensions and open old wounds.  As lingering resentments and deep-rooted jealousies surface, an unexpectedly cheerful Colin strolls into the mayhem.

Acerbic and painfully funny, Absent Friends explores friendship, marriage and what it ultimately means to be happy. In one of his finest plays, Ayckbourn’s craftsmanship and acute social observation have never been sharper or more biting.

An Olivier and Tony Award winning playwright, Ayckbourn has written 78 plays, more than half of which have been produced in London's West End as well as around the world. Notable successes include: Absurd Person Singular, The Norman Conquests, Relatively Speaking, Bedroom Farce, A Chorus of Disapproval and Communicating Doors.

With 32 critically-acclaimed productions since their debut in April 2000, the London Classic Theatre has established a reputation for producing bold, imaginative work of the highest quality and this latest presentation sees them celebrating their 15th anniversary as a touring company.

Absent Friends is at the Festival from Wednesday, August 19 to Saturday, August 22.