SHAKESPEARE at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol returns for its ninth spring season of two plays. The company, unique in the UK performing full-cast classics in an intimate space, now has an established, national reputation for some of the most vivid and compelling stagings of Shakespeare in the country.

The 2008 repertoire season couples Taming of the Shrew, directed by Andrew Hilton, with Hamlet directed by the legendary Jonathan Miller.

Taming of the Shrew opens on Thursday, February 7 - one of the most popular of Shakespeare's comedies, though one which can be puzzling and infuriating from a feminist and modern-day point of view. To the despair of her father, the shrewish' Katherina repels all suitors; but Petruchio, a man blatantly in search of a handsome dowry, decides that he will marry and tame' her - using, among other questionable techniques, starvation and sleep deprivation. The astonishing resolution is one of the most challenging in the whole Shakespeare canon.

Performances run until Saturday, March 15.

Hamlet opens on Thursday, March 20.

Perhaps the most famous tragedy in the English language , Hamlet turns a new face to every decade.

For any Shakespeare company its first production of Hamlet is a defining moment, especially significant for the Tobacco Factory as its first guest director will be the internationally known opera and theatre director, Jonathan Miller, who will bring his talents to the play for the third time in his career.

Press officer Sophie Jerrold said: "We are also delighted to announce that, due to an unprecedented demand for tickets, we have extended the run of Jonathan Miller's Hamlet by one week (until Saturday, May 3). "This is a first in our nine year history of producing Shakespeare at The Tobacco Factory and we intend it not to be the last."

She added: "Jonathan Miller shares our vision of theatre being in smaller, more intimate locations with minimal sets."

Miller himself said: "I have always been in favour of innumerable chapels rather than a few cathedrals."