Bard company

THE theatre's always been a bit of a ticklish subject with me. I like to try before I buy, but you can't do that with a play; you have to go along and hope for the best. I suppose that's why I'd never made the trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. Seeing Shake-speare performed in the Bard's birthplace is something I always felt I ought to do. But somehow, not just yet.

However, when the chance came to catch a production and combine it with a wander around what the local tourist board calls Shakespeare Country, it seemed like a pretty good idea.

It was.

It has to be said that Stratford is not an undiscovered English gem. It's a pleasant market town that trades on its literary connections as cannily as you might expect, but the tourists did not appear to have overrun the place when I paid my early summer visit.

My guest house, comfortable, well-run and handy for the town centre attractions of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Shakespeare's Birthplace, was full, but full of quiet, well-behaved culture vultures.

The Birthplace is pretty much as you would expect; newly-refurbished and informative about the playwright's life both in Stratford and in London.

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, it has to be said, is looking a bit past its sell-by date at the moment, and on the night I visited, the caf was drab and the loos were decidedly grubby.

But a £100 million project is on the way to transform it into what the Royal Shakespeare Company says will be a new theatre village with a landmark playhouse, the most significant new theatre building of the new century.

In the meantime, the waterside setting is attractive and a cruise up and down the River Avon combined with an ice-cream and a spot of people-watching is a great way to set yourself up for a performance.

And I was lucky with my choice of production: Antony And Cleopatra, performed by a cast headed by Sinead Cusack on top form.

So that was Stratford; and South Warwickshire, aka Shakespeare Country, did not disappoint when we decided to head out of town.

Driving the quiet country lanes was a pleasure, revealing as it did a landscape that appeared little changed perhaps even since it was Shakespeare's stamping ground.

Fruit orchards, thatched cottages, timbered houses, inviting village pubs... we never realised an area I'd always thought of as "The Midlands" could be so attractive.

South Warwickshire Tourism is promoting four circular touring routes which aim to give the motoring tourist an insight into the best the district has to offer, linking historic towns, villages and rural attractions.

And when the kids get restless, there can be few better places to get out of your car than Warwick Castle, a fascinating venue which greatly benefits from clever interpretation work by its owners, Madame Tussaud.

Once or twice I almost jumped as we encountered startlingly lifelike mannequins standing in rooms, recreating historical characters from the castle's past.

Custodians are dressed in period costume, too, and characters, including a rat-catcher complete with his day's haul of dead rodents, medieval knights and archers, roam the grounds to entertain visitors of all ages.

Shakespeare Country it may be; but there's a lot more than Shakespeare to make this quiet corner of Britain well worth a visit.

Fact file

Francine Clee stayed at the Aidan Guest House, 11 Evesham Place, Stratford 01789 292824.

Information about the district is available from South Warwickshire Tourism Ltd, 01789 293127, or through its website, www.shakespeare-country.co.uk

For information about the Royal Shakespeare Company and its productions, call 01789 403404, email info@rsc.org.uk, or browse at www.rsc.org.uk

Warwick Castle information: 0870 442 2000, or visit www.warwick-castle.co.uk

Updated: 08:36 Saturday, September 21, 2002