The famous words of William Shakespeare were brought to life in Box last month, as versions of five of the bard’s most famous plays were performed by a troupe of amateur actors.

The 20-minute plays featured original Shakespearean dialogue, and were adapted and directed by writer Kelley Townley. They starred parents and Children from Box Primary School, who worked for months to learn their lines.

Mrs Townley said: “Everybody pulled out a polished performance on the night.

“It was an excellent show, and people seemed to really enjoy it. People were surprised an amateur production had such good costumes. We’d hired them specially.”

The performance was part of Shakespeare Week, which marked the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth.

It included a version of Romeo and Juliet staged by schoolchildren, with music by the school orchestra.

Mrs Townley said: “We were completely sold out of tickets, and then had to find extra room for the orchestra.

“When you do an event outside school only half the orchestra usually comes, but they all turned up half-an-hour before and took up a lot of space, which was a little stressful.

“At the moment it’s just a one-off, as it was such a huge amount of work, but I think some of the cast might be keen to carry on acting.”