One of the world's most successful theatre companies returns for its annual visit to Burgess Hill with two contrasting plays.

The blood-soaked political thriller Coriolanus and the riotous farce Merry Wives of Windsor will be played in repertoire with a shared cast of 20 actors who turn their hand to very different roles.

They include Hove-based actress Hannah Young, who plays daughter to one of the Merry Wives and Virgilia, Coriolanus' wife.

The tour opened at the Swan Theatre in Stratford last winter and will travel to 12 UK venues over four months.

A mobile auditorium which fits up to 500 people and 50 tonnes of equipment including seating, costumes, washing machines and sets, will be used.

The Merry Wives of Windsor, directed by Rachel Kavanagh, is considered by many to be one of Shakespeare's least fashionable and most peculiar plays.

It centres on John Falstaff's attempts at seducing two wives to get their husbands' money.

Despite its oddball reputation, Rachel confesses to being fascinated by the play because it is one of the few Shakespeare productions with strong female characters, his only comedy set in England and the only one primarily about the middle classes.

"Basically I want to show the delights that are in this play," she says. "I just want everyone to remember the play has the word merry in the title.

"It's very eccentric and there are so many farcical moments. Men dressing up as women, people being carried out in baskets and people locked in cupboards."

Coriolanus, on the hand, enters the darker, more serious world of Caius Marcius - a legendary Roman hero who wins a war, is betrayed and sentenced to death back home, flees and then tries to attack and seize Rome with his former enemy.

Although set so long ago, director David Farr sees the tragedy saturated with blood and guts as a play for our times.

"Its a play about the attractions and the horrors of fundamentalism," he explains.

"With it being a Shakespeare you also get this incredible story."

Corolianus, Tuesday 7.30pm Thursday 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Merry Wives of Windsor, Wednesday and Friday 7.30pm Saturday 2.30pm, 7.30pm, tickets £18.50 (£14.50 concs Tues/Weds). Matinees £14. Call 01444 876060.