The Royal Shakespeare Company is looking forward to a bumper summer after advanced ticket sales topped the £2 million mark.

Theatre managers are confident that the line-up of ten plays will bring in the crowds for another successful season.

They have increased the number of tickets that will be held back until the morning of each show to give people who have missed out in the stampede for seats the chance to see the productions.

People will be able to get the last minute tickets each morning from 9.30 at the RSC box office in Stratford.

The curtain will lift tomorrow on the start of the season, a production of As You Like It directed by RSC Associate Director Gregory Doran.

Other highlights include the first half of the staging of Shakespeare’s History plays. Four titles – Richard II, both parts of Henry IV and Henry V will take to the boards this year, with the other historical plays being shown next season.

RSC spokeswoman Kate Hunter said the company of more than 70 actors would be taking the shows to London and out on tour, but the first showings would be in Stratford.

She said that the Summer Festival 2000 was following on the heels of a highly successful winter season when more than 210,000 tickets were sold to theatre-goers between last November and March.

Productions including King Lear, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Macbeth played to over 85 per cent capacity during the season.

Ticket information about this summer’s shows is available on 01789 403403.