The National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company present four of the iconic duo's operas at Malvern Theatres: The Pirates of Penzance, The Yeomen of the Guard, The Gondoliers, and The Mikado, set in the fictional Japanese town of Titipu and satirising British society, customs and pretensions through a farcical plot brimming with humour.

The Pirates of Penzance is perhaps the most enduringly popular of the pair's creations, packed with sentimental, swashbuckling pirates, a completely dotty Major General and a bumbling bunch of hopeless but hilarious policemen.

The Yeomen of the Guard, deeper and darker fare, meanwhile, is set in the Tower of London. Colonel Fairfax, a gentleman, soldier and scientist is wrongly accused of sorcery, imprisoned in the Tower and sentenced to be beheaded within the hour. To avoid leaving his estate to his accuser he secretly marries strolling gypsy, Elsie Maynard. Jester Jack Point is also in love with Elsie but agrees to the marriage knowing that Fairfax will soon be executed. However, Fairfax escapes, throwing the Tower into confusion and setting in motion a number of intriguing plot twists ending in tragedy for one of the players.

In The Gondoliers, Marco and Guiseppe, the handsome Palmieri brothers, lead a charmed life as gondoliers in sunny Venice. They can take their pick of the pretty contadine and marry Gianetta and Tessa. But the arrival of the Spanish aristocracy presents a royal dilemma when it is revealed that one of them is now the King of Barataria, who as a baby was entrusted into the care of a drunken gondolier who mixed up the prince with his own son. The brothers must travel to Barataria and rule the kingdom jointly until the truth can be determined.

The Pirates of Penzance is on September 3 at 7.30pm and September 4 at 2.30pm; The Yeomen of the Guard on September 4 at 7.30pm; The Gondoliers, September 5 and 6 at 7.30pm and The Mikado, September 7 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.

To book, call the box office on 01684 892277 or visit malvern-theatres.co.uk