I cannot think of anything more inspiring than this beautiful theatre complex on a summer evening overflowing with hundreds of people, there to visit the theatre, the concert hall or the intimate, elegant cinema.

And when this buzz of anticipation is given shape and excitement with a fine production of Julian Mitchell’s  remarkably powerful play, then I truly believe the gods of the theatre have taken up residence in Malvern and long may they exert their benign influence here.

Another Country raises the question – what would lead a man to betray his country or his friends? Why would a boy raised in affluence and comfort turn to Communism, Lenin and Karl Marx as the answer to universal social inequality?

Judd  (Will Attenborough in a beautifully balanced performance) is a thorn in the side of the snobbish, elitish public school, where he rebels against class arrogance, the idiotic school rules, the whipping of boys for minor indiscretions and all the rest of the phoney mystique which rules the lives of the boys who pass before us.

The other avowed outsider, who takes great delight in kicking traditional social upper-class manners in the crutch, is the flamboyant, openly gay, Bennett ( Rob Callender). With his lithe body and his expressive face, Mr Callender is a great performer. When he moons through the study window after pretty boys from the lower school, they are not just objects of desire but emblems of Bennett’s transgression.

When he is in conflict with Judd and his fanatical Marxism, you get the strength of Jeremy Herrin’s skill as a director. Bennett and Judd need each other to play against in order to establish their conflicting personalities. Here it works like a dream, and there are clearly  thoughts here of Burgess and Maclean, the 1950s Cambridge spies who ended up in Russia exiled from Britain as traitors.

Once again there were bravos shouted from a delighted audience for young actors barely at the start of their professional careers.

They give us all great hope for the future of British theatre.

Runs until Saturday, July 5.