A WORLD stage premiere from the pen of one of the greatest thriller writers is heading for a Worcestershire theatre next week.

Ruth Rendell is an acclaimed author but here she has written Gallowglass under the name of Barbara Vine and its tour opens at Malvern’s Festival Theatre on Wednesday, January 24 through to Saturday. January 27.

The adaptation stars Paul Opacic (Bad Girls/Emmerdale/Hollyoaks), Richard Walsh (London's Burning), Karen Drury (Brookside), Dean Smith (Last Tango in Halifax/Waterloo Road), Florence Cady (Crucible of the Vampire), Rachael Hart (Apple Tree House), Eva Sayer (The Turn Of The Screw) and introduces Joe Eyre as Sandor.

This classy thriller is from the stable of the Middle Ground Theatre Company, whose recent productions include Classic Ghosts, The Verdict and A Murder Is Announced.

It sees Sandor snatching Little Joe from the path of a London tube train, but then he was quick to make clear the terms of the rescue!

"I saved your life", he told the homeless youngster, "so your life belongs to me now”.

Sandor began to tell him a fairy tale: an ageing prince, a kidnapped princess, a missed rendezvous... But what did this mysterious story have to do with Sandor?

Joe only understood his own role - he was a Gallowglass, the servant of a chief...