A celebration of comedy and the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder plot attempt to blow-up parliament in 1605 are features of The Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2005 Festival Season in Stratford-upon-Avon. Among the highlights of the new season are:

· Artistic Director Michael Boyd oversees four plays in repertoire at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Twelfth Night”, ”The Comedy of Errors” and “As You Like It”.

· The adjacent Swan Theatre celebrates its 20th year and will commemorate Guy Fawkes’ attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament with a season of Jacobite and Elizabethan political dramas and culminating with a specially commissioned play by Frank McGuinness.

· Two new plays by British playwrights, Zinnie Harris and David Greig – “Solstice” and “The American Pilot” - explore responses to conflict.

· The New Work Festival continues the RSC’s commitment to new writing with “Breakfast with Mugabe” by Fraser Grace and “Eric La Rue” by Chicago based Brett Neveu.

Stratford-upon-Avon, 100 miles north-west of London, was the birthplace of William Shakespeare and offers visitors a chance to visit the house where he was born and many other related attractions. Tickets, tel: 0870 609 1110.