THE Bromsgrove group Words, promoting interest in the written and spoken word, begins its programme for the year with a visit from a playwright.

Timberlake Wertenbaker experiments with traditional forms, texts and audiences, taking her audience with her.

This approach has made her into one of the country’s leading contemporary writers for the stage.

One of her best known plays, Our Country’s Good, tells the story of a group of convicts and Royal Marines sent to Australia to form one of the first penal colonies there.

The play made a huge impact when it was first produced at the Royal Court Theatre.

Its themes of punishment, and the efforts of women to break boundaries and challenge gender roles, has ensured the play has a continuing place in theatre programmes and a set text in drama departments in Britain and across Europe.

Timberlake Wertenbaker's drama Jefferson’s Garden, and a new production of Our Country’s Good, have also been announced in the plans for 2015 by Rufus Norris, the new artistic director of the National Theatre.

Timberlake will be appearing at the Studio at Artrix, in School Drive, on Sunday, March 1, at 7.30pm.

Tickets cost £12, £6 for students. They are available by calling the Artrix's box office on 01527 577330 or visit artrix.co.uk.

Alternatively call Words on 0121 445 3485, or visit bromsgrovewords.com.