In 1978 Sir Ian McKellen decided to take Shakespeare to the people. He got a van, shoved some actors and a portable stage in it and toured to 13 small venues around the UK to spread the theatrical word.

Nearly 30 years later the RSC tour has become an annual institution. Avoiding the highbrow theatres which usually host such events, the tour travels to 15 leisure centres and schools around the country (as well as some overseas) in the spirit of a travelling circus.

Five 45 foot articulated lorries carrying over 50 tonnes of equipment including everything from the auditorium, seating, costumes and set to the tea-urn and the washing machine arrive the day before the first play opens. Within 24 hours the technical crew and local staff will transform the unlikely venues into fully operational professional theatres and the 20 plus actors arrive to share their drama.

The RSC last visited The Triangle leisure centre in Burgess Hill in 2003, when they packed out the massive auditorium with performances of Coriolanus and The Merry Wives Of Windsor.

This year they return with two new productions Julius Caesar, directed by David Farr, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, directed by Fiona Buffini.

"Burgess Hill should be a lot of fun,"enthuses Alex Avery, who plays Valentine in Two Gents, and Decius Brutus in Caesar.

"The really good places tend to be the ones the RSC have been to before. People get excited and the atmosphere is welcoming because they know what to expect. In places you haven't been to before you can often feel trepidation in the air, although they've normally relaxed and enjoyed it by the end.

"We bring our theatre to places like curling rinks and bowling greens places you wouldn't normally choose to go to on a caravan holiday, but nice little pockets all the same.

"They're normally near big cities like Brighton which have their own theatres, but a bit outside where people wouldn't normally get their high heels out and go to the theatre.

"People who normally go to the theatre are willing to travel to see the plays, but this way you also attract those who wouldn't normally go.

"The idea is you are taking the shows to the people to encourage those who wouldn't normally come to theatre.

"We go around spreading the word in a non-religious way of course."

"I think that is exactly what the RSC should be doing,"adds Fiona. "Everyone pays for the RSC, so everyone should have the opportunity to see the company, and this tour goes a long way to making that possible.

"There's a real sense of the circus coming to town, and everyone gets involved to make sure everything goes right."

Although Shakespeare was originally a writer for the people and attracted the masses rather than the highbrow courtiers of his 17th Century world, it is unusual these days to hear one of his productions being compared to a circus. There may be a few clowns but there are no acrobatics or elephants, and RSC productions bear little comparison to Big Top performances.

Yet there is an unmistakable sense of event' which arrives when such a large, colourful company sets up in a small town, building a new, dramatic stage to lord over the usual goings on.

"We must have some effect on the people of the area, who go up to their local gym one day and suddenly see this enormous theatre,"Alex says. "It must seem strange.

"Yes, I think there is a circus feel, we're like a touring group of players a big family. And we all get on with each other which is incredible."

And there is even a performing animal involved: a dog named Rhia who acts in Two Gentlemen of Verona.

"She's pretty deadpan and doesn't move except a yawn every now and again,"says Fiona. But Rhia is a big shot in the dog acting world. She has been in Eastenders and Snatch, and apparently Brad Pitt always asks for her whenever he needs a canine co-star for his films.

The two plays chosen for this season are deliberately contrasting. Julius Caesarm is a hard-hitting political thriller about the ancient Roman ruler whose tyrannical ways divide the city, the senators and his friends and eventually lead to his assassination.

Far from sorting things out, however, the death splits the people of Rome even further into warring factions, and the city descends into bloody chaos.

The production is set in contemporary times and features modern dress along with gory modern touches, suchas Caesar being stabbed with screwdrivers. It takes place in a fictitious emerging democracy which bears some resemblance to Putin's Russia and Berlosconi's Italy, and there are even vague allusions to Blair/Bush events.

"The play isn't directed at anyone in particular, but the situation is still relevant to today,"Alex says.

"Modern political examples of unconditional power are alluded to,"expands David, the play's director.

"While the play has many themes, one dominates it's about power, from beginning to end.

"Obviously, when Shakespeare wrote the play, Elizabethan audiences would have related it to the Kingship issues of the day so it makes sense to me that today's audiences should relate it to current issues.

"I am also using small elements of film. I believe that today's media images are like the statues of Rome instruments and icons of power."

Two Gentlemen of Verona, meanwhile, is an jaunty romp involving two best pals who fall for the same girl.

Typically Shakespearean ploys like disguises are used, and true love eventually prevails with the friends reconciled and looking to share one mutual happiness.'

This version is set in the jazz age of the Thirties, opening in countrified Verona and moving to the more cosmopolitan Milan. With jazz music, swing dance routines and saucy flapper costumes, the mood is upbeat and lively in contrast to the dark themes of the play's sister production. Like Caesar, cinematic techniques are used, with added street scenes giving a flavour of Thirties films.

"I love the play and think its high time people took a closer look at it," says Fiona.

"It's liberating to work on a play that's not performed that often. Actors and audiences don't come into it in the same way as they do, say, to Hamlet. There's far less baggage.

"You can also sense that the play was written by a playwright at the start of his career. You can feel that in the writing there's so much energy to it.

"Its both an adventure story and a romance, about four young people put in a very extreme situation. It's about people doing things rather than just thinking about things.

"We live in a fairly cynical world, but this play has a freshness and an innocence to it that I find very attractive loyalty, compassion and love triumph.

"It's a joyous play about loving life."

The disparities in theme, setting and mood between the two productions provide audiences with the chance to choose between two very different types of play and, for those who fancy seeing both, they provide a balanced sense of what Shakespeare is about.

In addition, both plays are performed by the company a shared ensemble of actors who get to show off their versatility from slipping from one role to its polar opposite.

Zubin Varla and Adrian Schiller, for example, play the political plotters Brutus and Cassius in Caesar, and then transform themselves into buffoons for Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Rachel Pickup, meanwhile, plays sex siren Sylvia in Two Gentlemen of Verona before turning into Portia, possibly the bard's foremost feminist, for Caesar the next day.

"Some rehearsals were crazy," laughs Alex. "You'd be doing some serious political scene in Caesar then have to run upstairs and do a lindy hop for Two Gentleman.

"But it's great as an actor to do two such different plays, it keeps things fresh. They say to play comedy well you have to play it as a tragedy and vice versa, and I think both plays are assisted by the fact you are running comedy and tragedy in tandem.

"It does prepare you to find the humour in Caesar and more depth in Two Gents."

Two Gentlemen of Verona Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, starts 7.30pm. 1.30pm matinee Saturday.

Julius Caesar Wednesday and Thursday, starts 7.30pm. 1.30pm matinee Thursday.

Tickets cost £15-£22, call 01444 876060