Hamlet set to visit chapel and castle

Here in the UK a set of £2 commemorative coins marking the 400th anniversary has been released into circulation and a special edition London underground map has been produced in which station names have been replaced with characters, names of plays and modern adaptations of William Shakespeare’s work to mark the anniversary.

More bizarrely the BBC drama series Doctors is celebrating with a week of episodes inspired by the playwright’s poetry.

There will certainly be celebrations on London’s Bankside, home to Shakespeare’s Globe, and the Rose Playhouse, and the place where some of Shakespeare’s most famous works were once created and performed, as there will in his home town of Stratford-upon-Avon, where hundreds of events are planned.

And not to be left out, The Festival Players, a touring company from the Warwickshire town will be staging locally performances of the Bard’s greatest tragedy, Hamlet, a tale of political intrigue, sexual obsession, philosophical reflection, violent action, tragic death and wild humour.

Our local performances take place on Saturday May 14 in the Old Chapel, Alfriston, at 7.30pm (Seats £16.50 from 01323 841414 and Chestnuts Tea Rooms in the village) and then on Sunday May 15 at 5pm , in the open air at Herstmonceux Castle (Tickets £16.50 from 01323 834479).