Shakespeare makeover for Tyneside

The Royal Shakespeare Company's annual Newcastle season begins.

"Here stops the Gateshead train at platform nine / Thou will find first class coaches down the line."

To mark the arrival of the Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) annual residency in Newcastle, parts of the city will jump back in time.

A series of public announcements influenced by Shakespeare's plays, themes, characters and verse will ring out across the region.

The RSC season runs from 20 October until 7 November.

The lines will be recorded by RSC actors, including current members of the ensemble, Peter Peverley and Paul Hamilton - both from the North East.

So, if you're travelling in and around Newcastle and Gateshead on the metro, or visiting the Tyneside Cinema, the Theatre Royal or Northern Stage, keep your ears pricked for something out of the ordinary.

Unusual instructions

The announcements will be broadcast as part of the inaugural Wunderbar Festival in Newcastle and Gateshead - in places where you least expect them.

Existing announcements that could be made over include -

• Please take your seats, the show will commence in five minutes

• Stand clear of the doors please

• The next station is Haymarket
The unusual instructions will run in and around Newcastle and Gateshead from October 20 - November 15 2009.

A spokesperson for Wunderbar said people could expect to see things at the festival "from the minutest of interactions to some grand city centre spectaculars."

As far as the RSC and Wunderbar are aware, Shakespeare's language has never before been used as everyday announcements, and they are calling on the public to help them.

They're running workshops where you can perfect your voice by learning the tricks and idioms of Shakespeare's language from an RSC practitioner.

The announcement you create could be recorded by an illustrious RSC actor and heard in Newcastle's shopping centres, theatres, bus stations and cinemas and maybe even at a football match.

If you can't make the workshops, you can create your own announcements online at the RSC website

Some of the RSC's performances this season include Shakespeare's As You Like It, Julius Caesar, The Comedy of Errors and The Winter's Tale at the Theatre Royal.