Town's new theatre season unveiled

The first performers who will be appearing at Shrewsbury's new £28 million theatre were announced today, with organisers boasting a star-studded line-up.

James Morrison has been lined up as one of the headline acts with a concert on March 28.

The singer was the stand-alone biggest-selling British male solo artist of 2006 and sold over two million copies of his debut album which included the popular hits 'You Give Me Something' and 'Wonderful World'.

The first public performance will be on February 22 with the Charles Darwin Memorial Lecture, which brings Professor Lord May of Oxford to deliver a lecture entitled Darwin's Scientific Legacy and Climate Change.

Other notable people appearing include poet and television personality Pam Ayres, veteran Labour politician Tony Benn, and Dave Spikey, co-writer and star of Phoenix Nights and former team captain of 8 out of 10 Cats.

The theatre will be officially opened to the public at the end of March, an event marked by a spectacular staging of the children's musical Romany Wood which will feature more than 400 young people from across Shropshire.

For the full story on the line-up see tomorrow's Shropshire Star