A PLAYWRIGHT who was the first writer in 80 years to be commissioned to write a play for the Malvern Festival will be bringing Disconnected to the Coach House Theatre this week.

Nick Wilkes, from Malvern, will present his new play from Tuesday (September 14) until Saturday, September 18 to open the autumn season at the theatre.

“It’s about a red telephone box,” he explained. “Actually it’s about a telecoms engineer sent to a small island community to remove their red telephone box. They’re not very happy about it.”

Disconnected, which features a cast of five, is described as “light-hearted British humour” which looks at the iconic red boxes from a unique perspective.

He said: “Apparently there used to be around twenty thousand of them up and down the country, now there are now just about two thousand that have listed building status and remain. I think that’s a bit sad really, if you see a postcard of ‘Great Britain’ in London, or even here in Malvern, invariably it will have the humble red telephone box on it. It’s both historic, patriotic and symbolic, so very deserving of a play.”

For tickets call the box office on 01684 892277.