Hundreds of people have queued around London's Novello Theatre to secure tickets for David Tennant's planned outing as Hamlet in the capital's West End, the BBC reports.

The Royal Shakespeare Company production has already proved a popular draw in Stratford-upon-Avon, where fans were earlier this year politely asked to lay off pestering Tennant and fellow thesp Patrick Stewart for autographs at the stage door of the Courtyard Theatre.

The play is now due to transfer to The Smoke in December, and an RSC spokeswoman said of the advance interest: "The great news for us is that it's encouraging that younger contingent of theatre-goers, which is one of our real aims. David has been wonderful in encouraging those people to come."

Some tickets, the Beeb notes, are indeed aimed at a younger audience, on sale to 16-25 year-olds for a mere fiver. ®

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