ACTOR Nigel Havers, best-selling author Terry Pratchett, Dracula and Shakespeare are all part of the drama programme at Fountains Abbey this year.

Nigel Havers will direct the West End play Art, on the abbey's West Green on Friday, July 2, and Saturday, July 3.

The season of plays opens with The Dreaming's version of Pratchett's Eric, in two weeks' time.

Adapted from the author's book set on the magical Discworld, the production revolves around an inept teenage demonologist who, trying to summon a demon to do his bidding, accidentally captures an equally inept and accident-prone wizard.

The same production team, who are based in York, returns throughout the year to perform a series of plays in locations around the estate, including Dracula, in Fountains Hall, and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, at the visitor centre's theatre.

Open-air productions of Shakespeare's The Tempest, Rossini's The Barber of Seville, and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, will also be staged among the abbey ruins, along with a version of Alice Through the Looking Glass.

More information about dates, times and ticket prices is available by calling (01765) 643199 during office hours.