THE whole of York Theatre Royal – from the café to the auditorium – is set to be transformed into Camelot when the Legend Of King Arthur is staged there next summer.

Written by Mike Kenny and directed by Damian Cruden, the epic production will bring the fantastical tale to life for all the family, with jousting, swords and sorcery.

London’s open-air Globe Theatre is also to open its newest productions of the three plays that make up Henry VI in York.

A spokeswoman said: “The first part of the Wars of the Roses which make up Shakespeare’s Henry VI parts I, II and III will be at York from June 26 to July 13, presenting an opportunity to see all three plays, sometimes on the same day,” said a spokeswoman.

Shakespeare’s Globe artistic director Dominic Dromgoole said: “We are delighted to be kicking off our touring Henrys in York and to be visiting the Theatre Royal for the first time.

“These great plays will gain additional punch, being performed in the heart of their historical home.”

The Theatre Royal has also announced it is to stage iShandy, a brand new play very loosely based on the novel Tristram Shandy, by Yorkshire author Laurence Sterne.

Written by Richard Hurford and directed by artistic director Damian Cruden, on the 300th anniversary of Sterne’s birth, the “bawdy, irreverent and quite frankly bonkers” production shows what happens when members of a teacher’s Book Club meet to discuss the latest ambitious read in their season of Yorkshire classics.

Two West End Tours that started in Yorkshire are also set to return to God’s Own County: the haunting play, The Woman In Black, developed from the novel by Scarborough writer Susan Hill, and The 39 Steps, back by popular demand.

Events will also move beyond the walls of the theatre itself, with the patio playing host to a children’s show, while there will be a double bill of new musicals written by Alexander Wright in the Cocktail Bar in the De Grey Rooms.