Ralph Fiennes directs and stars in T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets

Ralph Fiennes will create a new stage adaptation of T.S. Eliot's epic poem Four Quartets this summer.

The production will reopen the Theatre Royal Bath from 25 May to 5 June, and also launches Royal & Derngate's Made in Northampton season from 8 to 12 June in a co-production between both venues.

Four Quartets will then tour to Oxford Playhouse (14 to 26 June) and Cambridge Arts Theatre (28 June to 10 July), with further regional touring dates to be announced.

One of the Nobel Prize winner's later works, Four Quartets was mostly written before World War Two when the closure of playhouses during the Blitz interrupted Eliot's work in theatre.

According to press material, "The Four Quartets (Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry Salvages and Little Gidding), contain some of the most exquisite and unforgettable reflections upon surviving periods of national crisis."

Ralph Fiennes' recent stage credits include Antony and Cleopatra (National Theatre), Richard III (Almeida) and The Master Builder (Old Vic). His numerous film roles include Schindler's List, The English Patient, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Constant Gardner, Skyfall, In Bruges, The Dig and the Harry Potter series.