On the banks of the Avon, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Waterside, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 6BB (tel. 01789/403404), is a major showcase for the Royal Shakespeare Company and seats 1,500 patrons. The theater's season runs from November to September and typically features five Shakespearean plays. The company has some of the finest actors on the British stage.

You usually need ticket reservations, with two successive booking periods, each one opening about 2 months in advance. You can pick these up from a North American or English travel agent. A small number of tickets are always held for sale on the day of a performance, but it may be too late to get a good seat if you wait until you arrive in Stratford. Tickets can be booked through Global Tickets (tel. 800/223-6108 in North America or 020/7014-8550 in London), or Keith Prowse (tel. 800/669-8687 in North America or 0870/840-1111 in London). Both will add a service charge.

You can also call the theater box office directly (tel. 01789/403403) and charge your tickets. The box office is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30am to 8pm, although it closes at 6pm on days when there are no performances. Seat prices range from £8-£50 ($13-$80). You can make a credit-card reservation and pick up your tickets on the performance day, but you must cancel at least 2 full weeks in advance to get a refund.

Opened in 1986, the Swan Theatre is architecturally connected to the back of its older counterpart and shares the same box office, address, and phone number. It seats 430 on three sides of the stage, as in an Elizabethan playhouse, an appropriate design for plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. The Swan presents a repertoire of about five plays each season, with tickets ranging from £10 to £30 ($16-$48).

The latest addition is Summerhouse, a 350-seat theater lying on Waterside between the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Bancroft Gardens. Open from May to October, this is a different theater from the rest in that it is used for varied entertainment from music concerts to fashion and children's shows, even stand-up comedy. Information about its offerings and tickets (which vary in price) can be obtained through the Royal Shakespeare Theatre .

An addition to the Royal Shakespeare complex is The Other Place, a small, starkly minimalist theater located on Southern Lane, about 270m (300 yd.) from its counterparts. It was redesigned in 1996 as an experimental workshop theater without a permanent stage; seats can be radically repositioned (or removed completely) throughout the theater. A recent example was a "promenade production" of Julius Caesar, in which the actors spent the whole play moving freely among a stand-up audience. Tickets are sold at the complex's main box office and generally range from £13 to £24 ($21-$38) each.

Within the Swan Theatre is a painting gallery, which has a basic collection of portraits of famous actors and scenes from Shakespeare's plays by 18th- and 19th-century artists. It also operates as a base for guided tours with lively running commentary through the world-famous theaters. Guided tours are conducted Monday through Saturday at 1:30 and 5:30pm, and four times every Sunday afternoon, production schedules permitting. Tours cost £4 ($6.40) for adults and £3 ($4.80) for students, seniors, or children. Call ahead for tour scheduling, which is subject to change.