THERE is guaranteed to be one talking point above any other this summer season at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and that is the magnificent new stage space, which has brought the tired auditorium back to life.

Theatre designer Alison Chitty has doubled the size of last year's ellipse front-of-stage section by making it square, creating what appears to be a cavernous space aimed at fulfilling this year's aim of taking theatre back to basics.

The design has also seen the stalls taken to new heights and the theatre painted grey, as the RSC brings together the successful aspects of last season's ellipse in the main house and the white box in The Other Place.

The concept is based on the RSC's choice of main house productions for the summer, Hamlet, Twelfth Night and Julius Caesar.

The three are all believed to have been written within the same year and performed at the Globe within a year 400 years ago and the new space will create a similar experience to that enjoyed in the famous London theatre, according to associate director Stephen Pimlott.

He said the idea was to strip the productions down to their bare bones and not just improve the visual and aural spectacle but to heighten the experience between actor and audience.

Press and PR manager Roger Mortlock said the radical changes to the main house and the erection of a temporary pavilion for outdoor events this summer proved that the company was not just waiting around for the theatre to be rebuilt in five years' time.

"What we are doing with the RST and the pavilion are examples of our trying to make the most of what we have here rather than just play the waiting game," he said.

Alison Chitty was delighted not just with the improved space but also the way her design blended with the 1930s built theatre's Art Deco design touches.

"It has brought the old theatre back to life," she said.