THE curtain goes up today on this year's Bard in the Botanics - and the commemoration of the First World War plays a major part.

The centrepiece production of the 2014 festival is a new version of Henry V set against the backdrop of the Great War. The story centres on the day of the 1915 school fete and prize-giving at "Gardenhill Academy".

The students put on a performance of Shakespeare's great history play, but as the young actors tell the story of the Battle of Agincourt, the storm clouds of the bloody conflict in Flanders Fields gather overhead.

Before the first performance actors Daniel Campbell, who plays Henry V and Amandine Vincent, Katherine, Princess of France, acted out a scene from the production.

Henry V runs in the Botanic Gardens until August 2. For details, visit http://bardinthebotanics.co.uk/henry-v/