A TOURING production of the thought provoking Ghosts, Henrik Ibsen’s classic dark tale, arrives in the county this week.

This new translation, offered by the Rose Theatre Kingston and English Touring Theatre, will be at Malvern’s Festival Theatre for one week from Tuesday, November 26.

This production of Ibsen’s masterpiece is inspired by the artist Edvard Munch’s extraordinary stage designs for the play previously seen only once, in Berlin in 1906.

The play sees Oswald returning from Paris to honour his dead father. As his mother begins to feel the presence of ghosts from the past around her, Oswald discovers there is more to the mystery illness he suffers than he first thought. Only by uncovering the truth can they both be free… The English Touring Theatre was founded 20 years ago by director Stephen Unwin. He ran the company until becoming artistic director of the Rose Theatre Kingston and Ghosts marks his final production for the theatre.

A powerhouse of vital and vivid productions of new and classic plays, the award-winning English Touring Theatre’s recent credits include three Moliere adaptations by poet Roger McGough; The Hypochondriac, Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, and The Sacred Flame and Anne Boleyn co-produced with Shakespeare’s Globe.

The cast features several well known names and faces including Pip Donaghy, Florence Hall and Mark Quartley.

Pip Donaghy (playing Engstrand) has had a prolific theatre career working both in the West End and touring, and with television credits that include Casualty, Midsomer Murders and Coronation Street.

Patrick Drury (playing Pastor Manders) has also had a prolific acting career, both on stage and screen, as has Florence Hall (playing Regina). Her films include Telemachy, Truth or Dare and she has appeared in television series May Day, Holby City, Doctors, and Jonathan Creek.

Also starring in Ghosts will be Kelly Hunter (playing Mrs Alving) She received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for Lola in The Blue Angel (RSC) and has featured in numerous other stage shows, while the part of Oswald will be played by Mark Quartley, who starred in the ITV crime series, Vera.