Guildford Shakespeare Company will celebrate its 20th birthday by performing two Shakespeare comedies, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing, next month.

Many Shakespeare experts believe Much Ado About Nothing is a lost sequel with a new title, so the company is reflecting this in the names given to the cast - including lead actors James Sheldon and Phoebe Pryce.

Phoebe said: “I’m playing Beatrice. In Love’s Labour’s Lost she was Rosaline, but we’re making them the same characters. James’s character is called Benedick Berowne, a combination of his names from both plays.”

James said: “There are lots of theories about Much Ado and lots of evidence that it was once called Love’s Labour’s Won, as the conclusion of Love’s Labour’s Lost, but is now called Much Ado About Nothing.

“We’re setting it just before and after the Second World War. In Much Ado they’re coming back from a battle and you can see huge similarities in the characters, leading to a strong possibility of that theory being true.

“The first play is two-and-a-half hours of fun in their young lives, then this massive event happens, and the second play is how the terrible event changes them a bit. It’s a lovely double bill.”

James believes Shakespeare’s brilliant writing instantly future-proofed plays penned in the 1590s.

He said: “His stories are so timeless and are the basis of all stories. If you stick to that kind of format and quality, his themes such as jealousy and hilarity are still so relevant to how we feel now. Shakespeare does lend itself to modernisation because his stories are human.”

Phoebe added: “When we started doing them as 1930s and 1940s plays, it was impossible to imagine it being any other time.”

James said: “The Taming of the Shrew is amazing - that was a huge rom-com hit in the 1990s. West Side Story is Romeo and Juliet - same characters, same events, same interactions. It’s one of the most popular musicals ever made yet it was written 400 years ago.”

Shakespeare’s popularity is increasing as modern productions break through the 16th-century language barrier to emphasise the fun and drama.

James said: “I think it was written to be absorbed and felt. He wrote for all levels of society, from academics who understood every word to people who couldn’t read and write but understood what it’s like to be a human being.”

Phoebe said that once an actor tuned in to Shakespeare’s style the possibilities were endless: “Then your mind opens up and you can adapt it in so many different ways.”

James added: “It’s so exciting because so many things happen in these plays - fights, romance, comedy, slapstick. He was writing slapstick before it was even a genre. You just marvel at this person’s creative intelligence. How did he figure all this out when none of it existed?”

The plays will be staged outdoors at Braboeuf Manor in Portsmouth Road, Guildford, from July 1 to 25. For dates, times and tickets - priced from £18.50 to £45 - visit www.guildford-shakespeare-company.co.uk