A VERSION of Hamlet, coming to Worcester's Swan Theatre, will give a glimpse of how the play might have actually been performed in Shakespeare's day.

All the parts will be played by men, because women were effectively banned from the stage, during the days of the great Bard.

And while Hamlet is a monster of a play, with 4000 lines or so, and some productions last for at least three bottom-numbing hours, this play will be edited and it will be shorter, coming in at around two hours.

This is also probably in keeping with Elizabethan and Jacobean practice, where plays could be cut, it is thought, to suit individual performances.

Shakespeare himself, in Romeo and Juliet, wrote of, "the two hours' traffic of our stage". And who could doubt his word?

A shorter Hamlet, then, will come to the Swan Theatre, Worcester on Tuesday August 23.

A spokesman said; "This year is the 400th anniversary of the nation’s greatest playwright, and The Festival Players Theatre Company is proud to present his most famous play, Hamlet.

"Presented in full costume, an all-male company brings the excitement of this great thriller: intrigue, ghostly visitations, passion, a play-within-a-play, a gripping duel, and humour, in a crystal-clear and fast-paced two hour production."

Thought to have been first performed in 1600 and possibly the greatest tragedy in the English language, Hamlet is a story of revenge. Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, is haunted by the ghost of his father, who tells him that he was murdered by his own brother, Claudius. Claudius not only wears the late king’s crown but has also married his wife, Gertude, Hamlet’s mother. Hamlet has lost his father and his opportunity to be king, and possibly his sanity; can he believe the ghost, and if so how should he exact revenge?

The Festival Players' Artistic Director, Michael Dyer said: “Our shows are an amalgam of energy, entertainment and colour and we aim at keeping them short for the comfort of our patrons."

This will be Dyer’s 12th all-male production in a row for the Players.

He said: "It is of course totally authentic; we are following in the footsteps of Shakespeare’s own Globe Theatre when all roles were taken by men. The Players have built a reputation for strong, all-male shows over the past eleven years.”

Music will be specially written for this production by folk star Johnny Coppin, the front man of the cult Seventies folk-rock group, Decameron.

Tickets for some performances are now available online at

www.thefestivalplayers.co.uk/tour