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More than one million tickets have gone on public sale for the World Shakespeare Festival (WSF) next year.

Nearly 70 productions are being staged at venues including sites in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, Birmingham, Newcastle/Gateshead, Brighton, Llanilid near Bridgend and Edinburgh.

The event from April to November is part of the London 2012 Festival, the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad.

Thousands of performers, both amateur and professional, will be involved.

Theatre companies from countries including Brazil, Iraq, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia and Spain will take part in productions in the UK as part of the WSF, which starts on 23 April, Shakespeare's birthday.

More than 50 arts organisations will take part in the festival, which is being supported by BP and the National Lottery.

The RSC has collaborated in the UK with venues including the Globe, the Almeida Theatre, the Barbican, the British Museum, National Theatre, National Theatre Wales, the Roundhouse and Sage Gateshead.

Some of the productions will also be online.

The Globe, on the banks of London's River Thames, will present all of Shakespeare's 37 plays, with each being performed in a different language.

People can contact venues and go to the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and WSF websites for tickets. About £1.4m worth of tickets have already been sold to RSC members.

Other events and exhibitions will take place at Stratford-upon-Avon and elsewhere.