Five cutting-edge Russian playwrights will present “a rich, varied, heart-stopping array of new work” in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The leading light of modern Russian theatre will also take part in play readings, talks, debates, practical creative workshops and exhibitions.

One of the highlights is a “user generated web exhibition” entitled “Twin Views”. The British city of Coventry and the Russian city of Volgograd (former Stalingrad), were the first-ever two cities to create an international twinning link in 1944. Now 65 years later the Royal Shakespeare Company suggests that young people take photographs that illustrate their lives in their native cities and upload them to the internet to create a global online gallery.