James Bolam

Robert Bathurst holds fort with tale after tale in the pub from which most of them started and a few finished

The BBC is celebrating this extraordinary anniversary with an ambitious season of content across TV, Radio, BBC iPlayer & BBC Sounds exploring why, 400 years on, Shakespeare's relevance and influence is as strong as ever. A wealth of programming featuring major actors and leading experts, including new documentaries, performance, music, drama, comedy, news coverage and the best of the BBC archive, as well as special items on flagship BBC shows, will celebrate the man, his world and his timeless writing.

???????Following an acclaimed, sold-out run at Chichester Festival Theatre, FRACKED! OR: PLEASE DON'T USE THE F-WORD will embark on a UK tour from April 2017. Alistair Beaton's provocative new comedy takes us to an idyllic English village threatened by an energy company intent on drilling for shale gas. 

Initial casting has been announced for Nottingham Playhouse's 40th anniversary production of Stephen Lowe's Touched, which runs at the theatre from February 17 to March 4, 2017.

Initial casting has been announced for Nottingham Playhouse's 40th anniversary production of Stephen Lowe's Touched, which runs at the theatre from February 17 to March 4, 2017.

Initial casting has been announced for Nottingham Playhouse's 40th anniversary production of Stephen Lowe's Touched, which runs at the theatre from February 17 to March 4, 2017.

The Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye reports that Oliver Chris has joined the cast of Alistair Beaton's new play FRACKED! OR: PLEASE DON'T USE THE F-WORD at Chichester Festival Theatre. Richard Wilson will helm the production, currently scheduled to run at the Minerva Theatre from 8 July - 6 August.

Jonathan Church and Alan Finch announce the Chichester Festival Theatre 2016 season - the last under their leadership as Artistic Director and Executive Director. 

This Valentine's Day, Sunday 14 February, leading names in British theatre will come together to perform a benefit show for the UNHCR at the National Theatre.  The afternoon performance in the NT's Lyttelton Theatre will see actors including Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply), David Morrissey (Hangmen), Andy Nyman (Hangmen), Rufus Hound (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), James Bolam (New Tricks), Noma Dumezweni (Linda), Ray Fearon (Coronation Street), Adjoa Andoh (Dr Who) and Zubin Varla (Dara) perform brand new work and much loved work by Richard Bean, Staten Cousins-Roe, Stephanie Dale, David Edgar, Phil Porter, Michelle Terry, Jenifer Toksvig and Matthew Woodyatt (with further cast and creative names to be announced).

James Bolam and Steve John Shepherd will star in the play BOMBER'S MOON by William Ivory at Trafalgar Studios 2, previewing from Monday 20 April, with a press night on Friday 24 April, for a strictly limited season until Saturday 23 May. This follows a critically acclaimed run at Park Theatre in 2014.

James Bolam and Steve John Shepherd will star in the play BOMBER'S MOON by William Ivory at Trafalgar Studios 2, previewing from Monday 20 April, with a press night on Friday 24 April, for a strictly limited season until Saturday 23 May. This follows a critically acclaimed run at Park Theatre in 2014.

The Summer Season at the Finborough Theatre continues with rediscoveries of EVENTS WHILE GUARDING THE BOFORS GUN and MERRIE ENGLAND. Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of playwright John McGrath, and unseen in a professional production in London since 1966, John McGrath's Events While Guarding The Bofors Gun opens at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre for a limited four-week season from Tuesday, 22 May 2012 directed by Robert Hastie. Merrie England plays at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of nine Sunday and Monday evening performances and Tuesday matinees, opening tonight, 27 May 2012.

The Summer Season at the Finborough Theatre continues with rediscoveries of EVENTS WHILE GUARDING THE BOFORS GUN and MERRIE ENGLAND. Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of playwright John McGrath, and unseen in a professional production in London since 1966, John McGrath's Events While Guarding The Bofors Gun opens at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre for a limited four-week season from tonight, 22 May 2012 directed by Robert Hastie. Merrie England plays at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of nine Sunday and Monday evening performances and Tuesday matinees, opening on Sunday, 27 May 2012.

The Summer Season at the Finborough Theatre continues with rediscoveries of EVENTS WHILE GUARDING THE BOFORS GUN and MERRIE ENGLAND. Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of playwright John McGrath, and unseen in a professional production in London since 1966, John McGrath's Events While Guarding The Bofors Gun opens at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre for a limited four-week season from Tuesday, 22 May 2012 directed by Robert Hastie. Merrie England plays at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of nine Sunday and Monday evening performances and Tuesday matinees, opening on Sunday, 27 May 2012.

Tim Healy and Dearbhla Molloy will join Orlando Bloom, Lynda Baron and Paul Hilton in Anna Mackmin's production of David Storey's 1969 drama, In Celebration.

Orlando Bloom will star in David Storey's 'In Celebration' at The Duke of York's Theatre this Summer.

To coincide with the play's 50th anniversary, Lee Evans and Jason Isaacs will star in a major West End revival of Harold Pinter's classic comedy of menace, The Dumb Waiter.