A PLAYWRIGHT from Malvern hopes his work will reach a wider audience after the success of a Christmas song.

Nick Wilkes has written and produced 24 plays with his company, Malvernbard, but recently found success online in another art form.

“A romantic speech that I was writing for a play turned into a lyric, which in turn became a Christmas song," he said. "We recorded it at the Old Smithy Studios in Kempsey, and filmed a video for it in Mealcheapen Street in Worcester and, in less than a month online, over 22,000 people had seen it, more than have seen all of our plays put together. Thoughts turn to trying to reach this larger audience with our stage work, so we are going to film one of our plays for the small screen as a television pilot episode.”

The project, Movable Props, will be filmed in Worcester and Malvern from later this month.

He said: “Given the exposure the Christmas song and video gave us, it’s conceivable that we can bring a viewing audience of tens of thousands to see Malvern and Worcestershire in all it’s glory, not to mention the ongoing work locally for cast and crew."

A crowd-funding campaign aims to raise the £8,500 needed for the project. For more, see Malvernbard’s Kickstarter page or contact Nick at Malvernbard@me.com or 07971 535071.