THE arrival of new season brochures from The Courtyard and Malvern Theatres always generates anticipation.

And the autumn progammes from both venues live up to expectation, offering a feast of drama, music, dance and more to take us up to Christmas and the panto season.

Lovers of drama will find a rich vein of theatre running through the next four months at The Courtyard, kicking off in September with some big TV names in The Naked Truth, a brilliantly funny comedy about sisterhood from Dave Simpson, starring Claire King, Michelle Heaton, Julie Buckfield, Maureen Nolan and Leanne Jones.

Anyone fortunate enough to catch last year’s extraordinary ‘show’ from Feral Productions, The Gingerbread House, won’t want to miss the new production Locked – Rapunzel’s Lament, which promises more excitement and innovation as it moves drama off the stage and into new environments.

There’s also a full-mask theatre production, Nursing Lives from Vamos Theatre, full of visual inventiveness, physical theatre and 1940s dance sequences; an evening with the inimitable Derek Jacobi as he offers a fascinating insight into the world of the theatre; An Evening of Burlesque direct from the West End; the return of The Vagina Monologues following its sell-out season last year, and, as Christmas approaches, a magical festive show for the over-fours, in The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, based on the book by L Frank Baum.

For full details of these shows and a great deal more, including a performance from Blake, winners of a 2008 Brit award for best album, go to courtyard.org.uk or pick up a brochure at the box office.

Malvern, too, offers plenty to tempt those in search of entertainment starting in September with Carrie’s War, direct from the West End and starring Brigit Forsyth and Hannah Waterman, followed by two of TV’s biggest names, Martin Shaw and Jenny Seagrove reunited in Clifford Odets’ award-winning The Country Girl.

Mid-October also offers an unmissable musical treat as Evita comes to Malvern, a show with some of the most memorable and inspiring numbers from Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Elsewhere you’ll find a diverse selection of drama, from John Godber’s hilarious Up ’n’ Under starring Abi Titmuss, to the classic The Rivals with two of the country’s best loved actors, Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, together again, and a brand new murder mystery featuring Colin Dexter’s Morse in House of Ghosts starring Colin Baker.

There’s also a chance to see the acclaimed National Theatre production of Lark Rise to Candleford, Charles Dickens’ The Haunting and Morecambe, a celebration of the extraordinary life of Eric Morecambe which won the 2010 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.

Find details of the full season’s programme, including music, dance and talks, at malvern-theatres.co.uk.