RSC announce 400th anniversary spring/summer season

•UK Tour of A Midsummer Night's Dream to feature 14 amateur companies
•Paapa Essiedu to star as Hamlet in Simon Godwin's production
• Melly Still to direct Cymbeline
• Maria Aberg directs Doctor Faustus at the Swan Theatre
• Rufus Hound and David Threlfall star in Don Quixote with music by Grant Olding
• David Tennant will host a TV show celebrating Shakespeare's legacy
• Season celebrates 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death and Ben Jonson's First Folio

Paapa Essiedu leading Simon Godwin's Hamlet and a production of Don Quixote starring David Threlfall and Rufus Hound with music by Grant Olding are among the highlights of the RSC's Spring/Summer 2016 season which marks 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare.

The season commences with A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation directed by Erica Whyman. Celebrating his love letter to amateur theatre, the production will tour to all nations and regions of the UK with the same professional company. In each region, Bottom and the mechanicals will be played by a local amateur group, cast and trained by the RSC.

The production runs from 17 February – 5 March at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, before touring across the UK between March and June

It then returns to Stratford from 15 June – 16 July, with all 14 amateur companies given the opportunity to play on the Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage.

Also at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Simon Godwin returns to the RSC following his acclaimed production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona in 2014, to direct Hamlet from 12 March – 13 August 2016 with Paapa Essiedu in the title role, and Melly Still directs Cymbeline from 29 April – 12 August 2016.

Elsewhere, the Swan Theatre will also mark a 400th anniversary, that of Ben Jonson’s First Folio and the death of Cervantes. This begins with Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus directed by Maria Aberg from 4 February – 4 August 2016.

Angus Jackson returns to the RSC after his highly-acclaimed production of Oppenheimer to direct Don Quixote, adapted by James Fenton from the novel by Miguel de Cervantes , from 25 February – 21 May 2016.

The production will have music by Grant Olding and will star David Threlfall in the title role and Rufus Hound in his RSC debut as Quixote’s faithful companion, Sancho Panza.

Also announced for 2016

The Swan Wing and the Other Place will reopen in April 2016 with the return of the RSC’s studio theatre, a new café and a brand new Page to Stage tour.

A new exhibition, The Play's the Thing will open in June 2016, revealing the secrets and stories from over 100 years of theatre-making history in Stratford.

To mark Shakespeare’s birthday on 23 April 2016 the RSC will present a day of free outdoor events, including a show by acrobatic company, Mimbre, inspired by Shakespeare’s stories, and firework display.

David Tennant will host The Shakespeare Show (working title), a special evening event – broadcast live on BBC2 from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre – celebrating Shakespeare’s legacy across all the arts, in a collaboration between the RSC and the BBC.