COMING up at Malvern shortly is the outstanding comedy, Relatively Speaking, which was Alan Ayckbourn’s first great West End success.

This new production from Theatre Royal Bath Productions stars Robert Powell and Liza Goddard, two of our most highly regarded TV and stage actors.

It promises to be a joyfully funny take on one of Ayckbourn’s funniest plays and the one which turned him into a household name.

Beautifully crafted, wonderfully funny and charmingly English, when the show opened at the Duke of York’s Theatre in 1967, the critics hailed the arrival of a great new comic talent.

Greg only met Ginny a month ago but has already made up his mind that she’s the girl for him. When she tells him that she’s going to visit her parents, he decides this is the moment to ask her father for his daughter’s hand.

Discovering a scribbled address, he follows her to Buckinghamshire where he finds Philip and Sheila enjoying a peaceful Sunday morning breakfast in the garden, but the only thing is – they’re not Ginny’s parents.


Robert Powell received multiple awards and a BAFTA nomination for his portrayal of Jesus in Franco Zefferelli’s Jesus of Nazareth. His extensive stage performances include Alan Bennett’s Single Spies, Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell and most recently King Charles III. 


Liza Goddard is one of the UK’s favourite actresses and her extensive range of Ayckbourn credits includes Life of Riley, Communicating Doors, Season’s Greetings, Life and Beth and If I Were You.

Her television work includes cult classics Doctor Who and Bergerac. She has made guest appearances in BBC’s Wild West, CITV’s Out of Sight and ITV’s Midsomer Murders.

They are joined by Lindsey Campbell as Ginny and Anthony Eden as Greg.


Directing the play will be Robin Herford whose numerous credits include Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce and Season’s Greetings, Rain Man, The Secret of Sherlock Holmes and The Hound of the Baskervilles and the phenomenally successful stage adaptation of The Woman in Black – a production which has now celebrated 25 years in the West End and been seen by over seven million people.

Relatively Speaking runs at Malvern’s Festival Theatre from Monday, October 24 through to Saturday, October 29.