The King's Lynn Shakespeare Festival has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic but organisers plan to make a bigger return in 2022.

The King's Lynn Shakespeare Festival Theatre Company has expressed its sadness in postponing this year's event, which was due to take place in April at St George's Guildhall in King's Lynn.

Organisers said it is because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, but have announced the festival will return next year in "a larger format", which will take place over three days on April 22, 23 and 24.

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A statement said: "The 2022 festival will remain true to its founding principles - the celebration of the combination and intersection of performance and academic interrogation."

The event will include talks from six of the UK's leading Shakespearean scholars and free Shakespeare acting workshops with the festival's artistic director Andrew Jarvis alongside a "well-known celebrity actor from King's Lynn" - his identity will be announced closer to the event.

Following the festival’s sponsorship deal with King’s Lynn Town Football Club, the subjects covered by the speakers will also include the relationship between football, with hopes players and staff from the club will be involved in the event.

Other talks include the character and specific features of Shakespearean theatre and performance, the nature of Shakespeare’s touring companies, and significant dates and details from Shakespeare’s life.

%image(14465033, type="article-full", alt="William Shakespeare performed at the guildhall in King's Lynn in 1592. It is the oldest theatre in Britain. Picture: Wikimedia Commons")

The event will also include a "celebratory performance" named 'A life with Shakespeare over a 53 year career.'

Mr Jarvis said: “This is really my own sub-Ian McKellen version of his one man show 80 Stages.

"A personal history, with recollections, reminiscences and anecdotes of theatre, film, television, radio and commercials, followed by a question and answer session.

"The central point being that I am not a star but a simple jobbing actor who has managed to keep working for over 50 years.

"The evening will therefore be about a journey, a description of what the job has been for me over those years.

"What it has been like for someone whom The Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington once described as 'Royal Shakespeare Company Warhorse Andrew Jarvis'."