Set in Elizabethan England, Peter Hall's new production sees Titania, the Fairy Queen, as a portrait of the ageing Queen Elizabeth I, fascinated with the theatre, besieged by courtiers but 'married to the people of England'.

This production has been specially designed by Elizabeth Bury for the Rose's open stage, which itself was modelled upon the original Elizabethan Rose Theatre on London's Bankside.

A Midsummer Night's Dream reunites Peter Hall and Judi Dench, an enduring theatrical partnership lasting some fifty years. Judi Dench first played Titania for Peter Hall with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962 and they have subsequently worked together on productions such as Antony and Cleopatra (National Theatre), The Royal Family (Haymarket) and Hay Fever (West End).

Judi Dench, one of Britain's greatest actresses, is a long standing supporter of the Rose and hosted a fundraising gala for the theatre in 2004.

Peter Hall, internationally acclaimed director of theatre, opera and film, is the Rose's Founding Director and led the campaign to open the theatre. He continues his role as the Rose's Director Emeritus alongside Artistic Director Stephen Unwin. In 2010 Peter Hall not only celebrates his 80th birthday but also a directing career that has spanned almost 60 years.

Tickets are now sold out, except for a limited number of "same day" tickets available to purchase in person. These are reserved for KT postcode holders only.

Michael Wynne's buoyant new comedy takes a microscope to modern dilemmas about life, love and retro board games.

In the most elaborate and technically challenging of his installations, Haas combines filmed images projected on both walls and ceiling with real architectural elements, responding in his own terms to the spectacular, playful illusionism of a Tiepolo ceiling: "My intention has been to create the film installation as if it were designed and directed by Tiepolo himself, translating painterly trompe-l'oeil into cinematic visual effect."

On one of the walls we see Tiepolo with a young assistant in the studio. Occasionally he looks across to other walls, where models are posing for him. The models are played by the actresses Anna Walton — as a reclining Venus — and Rachael Stirling. Above, we see classical figure groups come to life as Tiepolo has visions, piece by piece, of a grand ceiling decoration in splendidly theatrical style. It is an assembly of the divinely beautiful, the strong, and the statuesque: Venus and Mars, Jupiter and Hebe, Juno, Ceres, river gods, and a host of numerous personages from classical myth and allegory.

Finally Apollo the sun god appears, hovering in the center of the whole, breathtaking ensemble that has come together over our heads. Meanwhile Tiepolo has been working on a portrait of a betrothed couple. The climax of the piece is an apotheosis in which, through the power of the artist's imagination, the couple become classical figures themselves and ascend into the heavens.

Freeman plays dreamer Danny Reed, whose life is turned upside down when he is struck by lightning and wakes to find himself trapped in a woman's body. Instead of being a scruffy DIY store worker with no prospects, he has now swapped lives with glamorous female fashion journalist Veronica Burton.

Veronica is tall, gorgeous, striking and smart. On paper Veronica has a pretty fantastic life: a fabulous apartment, an attractive and successful boyfriend, Jay, who dotes on her, and a great job writing for the local paper's fashion page. Her life is a whirlwind of drinks, parties, shopping, interviews and generally living it up.

Danny suddenly must learn how to walk in stilettos and put on a bra, deal with the amorous advances of Veronica's boyfriend Jay and pass himself off as a fashion expert while also finding out what has happened to his old self.

His double life becomes further complicated when he discovers that Veronica has been having an affair with Ali, the boyfriend of close friend Siobhan. But Danny comes to see the advantages of his new life when he revisits his old DIY shop as the stylish, tall and attractive Veronica and speaks to his fellow worker Pete and the girl of his dreams Fiona about Danny's "disappearance". And, for the first time ever, Fiona seems interested in him.

The question is, will Danny find his way back to his old life and, if he does, will he still want it?

The next morning Archie can only beg Felix to return the car but Felix refuses and instead offers him a chance to win it back at another poker game to be held at his country manor. Outside, Jamie spots Wes Gray, a disgruntled ex employee of Felix’s who’d been refused entry to the party the night before. As Wes crosses the road a car attempts to run him over. Jamie saves him, but Wes runs off. Archie agrees to another game and knowing Jamie is a poker expert he also puts him forward under a pseudonym. Archie’s plan is for Jamie to beat Felix and win back the car.

Jamie reluctantly agrees, however, when they arrive at the mansion it is evident all is not right in the Cornell household. Jamie is convinced Felix is bent and had tried to kill Wes Gray. He attempts to convince Eve that her husband is dodgy but she refuses to believe him. But as the poker game progresses Eve starts to see that Jamie might be right and secretly calls Wes Gray. Wes arrives and informs Eve and Jamie of Felix’s dodgy business dealings and the fact that he is trying to have him killed for threatening to reveal the truth. Felix catches them all in the act and, angered by the deception, he challenges Jamie to a new game of poker but this time the stakes are the car in exchange for Archie’s fingers. Jamie enters the most dangerous card game of his life but will his skill be enough to win back the car and get them both out of this tricky situation in one piece?

Arrogant, pompous and truculent Henry Higgins bets that he can transform guttersnipe Eliza from a Cockney flower-seller into a posh lady. She is eager for elocution lessons and he takes on the task with diabolical joy. He attempts to change Eliza's entire personality, oblivious to the consequences for her. While not overtly political, Shaw's play reflects his sympathy for the suffragette movement and has a distinct feminist bent. Rather than marry his transformation, as did Ovid's Pygmalion, Higgins is left forlorn as Eliza's metamorphosis gives her unexpected independence and strength of character, allowing her to leave him.

Pygmalion delighted both audiences and critics when it opened in Bath in 2007. This superb production is a triumph for Hall. Shaw had become unfashionable — his plays considered only lightweight entertainment. Hall's production rediscovers Shaw as a writer who merged the comic and the serious, writing about character and human destiny. Described as "astonishingly fresh and funny" (Sunday Times), Hall's rendition exposes the danger of being transformed into someone else's toy.

Eliza's scandalous exit line, "Walk! Not bloody likely", continues to cause laughter; it is a comedy after all. But it is the seriousness of the play that remains powerful and contemporary.