IT’S going to be a walk back into history.

All the way back to 1598 and Will Shakespeare is in urgent need of a new theatre… James Burbage is dead, his investment at Blackfriars stalled, and Shakespeare is stuck in the wrong part of town. Shoreditch is no longer the hotbed of theatrical life it once was. Burbage’s Theatre is closed, and Shakespeare and his company are stuck at the ageing Curtain Theatre, out on a limb.

But south of the river showbusiness is booming… Outside of the harsh jurisdiction of the city, Southwark is full of bear-baiting, cock-fighting, taverns and brothels. Here audiences are cramming into the best theatres England has ever seen; The popular Rose Theatre, and the resplendent new Swan Theatre, are both making plays, pennies and pounds a plenty…

Malvernbard, in association with Malvern Theatres presents To Build a Wooden O, a new play from Nick Wilkes, who is the ‘Writer in Residence’ at Malvern Theatres, which will run for four days at the Festival Theatre from Wednesday, September 9 to Saturday, September 12.

“It’s the perfect time to set a play, with Shakespeare at a huge crossroads in his life and career,” says Wilkes.

“Many of his great playwriting contemporaries including George Peele, Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd are all dead, and the next generation, Ben Jonson, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Heywood are starting to find success. Poor old Will Shakespeare stands alone as a bit of an elder statesman, part of an ageing company in an older theatre.

“Should he retire to Stratford? Should he return to being a hired-quill at £6 a play? Should he concentrate on the publication of his poetry? Right now, at this point, his career could have moved in any number of directions,” he added.

“Against this backdrop we witness an audacious plan with the highest of stakes, literally make or break, life or death. All whilst Shakespeare is writing his new play, a little history piece called Henry V.

“2015 is the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt, so it’s the perfect moment for us to look backstage at the very first time that Shakespeare’s Henry V was performed. Think of it as the story behind the making of the play that we know today! Noises Off meets Henry V!”

Told in flashback, by Shakespeare’s eldest daughter Susanna Hall, who looks back through the eyes of her younger self to see how history unfolded, To Build a Wooden O is comedy, tragedy and history all rolled into a must-see production for Autumn 2015.