APRIL 27 - MAY 20 2006, SALISBURY: Salisbury Playhouse presents A Touch of the Sun, N.C. Hunter's classic tale of a family split by riches and poverty, next week.

The production will then tour to Worthing, Guildford, Cambridge, Watford, Oxford and Bristol, from Tuesday, May 23 to Saturday, July 8.

A Touch of the Sun is directed by the Playhouse's artistic director, Joanna Read, and follows the success of her highly acclaimed revival of the playwright's Waters of the Moon in 2004. A West End hit in its original 1950s production, A Touch of the Sun provided a young Vanessa Redgrave with her London stage debut, appearing alongside her father, Michael.

Philip Lester is an ascetic, stick in the mud, deputy headteacher at a school for boys of slow development. Philip's passionate socialism translates into a hatred of all things materialistic, so when his wealthy brother and sister in law invite his family to visit them at their villa in Cannes, Philip finds himself lost in the orbit of an altogether different world.

At Cannes, Philip instantly disapproves of the fellow guests and their flagrant capitalism; his pompous moralising making him no friends. However, the rest of his family relishes their new environment. With his children empowered by their first taste of champagne and his wife simply by a taste for a better life as she goes for longer and longer drives along the Cannes coastline with a wealthy acquaintance, Philip is forced to reassess the importance of that which he holds in great esteem, not least his relationship with his family.

Jamie Newall, pictured above, leads the cast as Philip Lester. Jamie has recently been seen at Salisbury Playhouse as Gerald in Woman in Mind and also appeared in the 2004 production of Waters of the Moon as Julius Winterhalter. Jamie's other recent work includes The Crossings at The Arcola.

Also stars Paula Stockbridge, Ian Targett and Caroline Head.