SHAKESPEARE plays are coming not (as) single spies to South Wales this week, but in battalions, to misquote the Bard.

His fans will be able to see five plays, ranging from comedy to tragedy, performed by the Wales Theatre Company, and the Royal Shakespeare Company in Cardiff and Ebbw Vale.

The Wales Theatre Company, whose production of Under Milk Wood last year was critically acclaimed, are performing a trilogy of Shakespeare at the New Theatre in Cardiff.

Artistic director Michael Bogdanov has chosen The Merchant of Venice, the little-performed Cymbeline, and one of the Bard's more successful comedies, Twelfth Night.

The cast is led by veterans Philip Madoc, Bill Wallis and Paul Greenwood, among a cast of experienced actors and new Welsh faces.

The trilogy runs from Monday to Saturday October 23, when there's the opportunity to see all three plays in a single day.

The box office number is 02920 878889. The RSC are bringing a company of 20 actors to Ebbw Vale to present two contrasting plays - the political thriller Julius Caesar, the story of one of the most hated but yet revered leaders of all time; and the sparkling comedy Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Julius Caesar is directed by David Farr, currently the joint artistic director of Bristol Old Vic, and Two Gentlemen of Verona by Fiona Buffini.

Both plays are in the RSC's purpose-built mobile auditorium at Ebbw Vale Leisure Centre between Tuesday and Saturday, October 23. For tickets or more information call 01495 350360.

And if all that sounds like a little too much Shakespeare to brush up on, there's always the Reduced Shakespeare Company's Complete Works (Abridged), coming to Ebbw Vale's Beaufort Theatre on October 27, which covers all 37 plays in a mere 97 minutes. Their box office number is 01495 350360.