A SEASONED teenage actor from Redditch has won his first adult role in the Shakespearean epic Henry V, which opens in Birmingham next week.

John Partridge, 15, of Winyates West, started acting at the tender age of six and has gone on to appear in about 12 theatre productions, television shows and radio plays.

His roles have included young Arthur in the Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Fleance in Macbeth, a schoolboy in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

John, who attends St Benedict's High School, Alcester, also played the boy in The Snowman, at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, for two years in a row, and had roles in radio plays In Singapore and Friends of Oscar Wilde, in which he played Wilde's young son.

Other parts include an evacuee in BBC film Cruel Train and a schoolboy in television police series Back Up.

John plays four roles in Henry V, which runs from Monday, September 23 until Saturday, October 5, including the part of Nym.

The play, featuring England's bloody victory at Agincourt, is being staged at Birmingham Library Theatre, by Maverick Theatre and tickets are available from 0121 236 5622.