MR SELFRIDGE actor Samuel West has lent his voice to an exciting project to mark the 600th anniversary of The Battle of Agincourt.

Thanks to grants from Arts Council England (ACE) and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), The Berry Theatre, Hedge End will be at the centre of commemorations in Hampshire to mark the anniversary.

The ACE money will help support three specially commissioned plays.

The first Across The Dark Water is a peripatetic play based on the Southampton Plot to overthrow Henry V while the second The Road To Glory will be performed by The Berry Youth Theatre and is about the boy soldiers who travelled with Henry.

The third is a new version of Shakespeare’s Henry V involving 10 Hampshire schools.

A range of other events and an exhibition supporting the performances has been funded by the HLF.

It includes a new website that features the digital retelling of the Agincourt story from the Southampton Plot to the battle itself to which Samuel West lends his voice.

Samuel, who officially opened The Berry Theatre in 2011, is providing the voice of the writer of Gesta Henrici Quinti, the chronicler of the deeds of Henry V.

His words will be heard on a series of audio clips on the website.

The actor has played Hamlet and Richard II for the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as Frank Edwards in all four series of ITV’s Mr Selfridge.

He is also starring as Sir Walter Pole in the new BBC One drama Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, said he was thrilled to be involved with the Road to Agincourt project.

“When I opened The Berry Theatre I spoke about it taking its place proudly and loudly in the artistic life of this country,” he said.

“The Road to Agincourt project will help put the venue well and truly on the map and I am only too pleased to be helping put it there by taking on the role of The Chronicler as he tells Henry V’s story from the discovery of the Southampton Plot to the final victory at Agincourt.”

Across The Dark Water by Ben Musgrave will run from Tuesday July 21 to Sunday August 1.

The armies of England muster in Southampton as they prepare for Henry V’s invasion of France in 1415.

But loyal Scrope of Masham has discovered a dark plot that threatens to unseat Henry and change the course of history.

Scrope intends to reveal all but as he uncovers more at Itchen Ferry, he is pulled across the dark water – pulled so far he may never come back alive.

Across The Dark Water will tour to venues which played a key role in these historic events.

The production will open in Portchester Castle – where Henry gathered his troops before sailing for France.

This is also where the plot was revealed to him.

The play follows in the footsteps of the plotters, being staged in locations where they met 600 years earlier to the day.

The production will conclude at St Julien’s Chapel, where the headless body of the Earl of Cambridge, the leading plotter, was buried.

The Road To Glory by Neil Duffield runs from Friday October 30 to Saturday October 31 and will be performed by members of The Berry Youth Theatre.

A group of villagers, many barely out of childhood, enlist in Henry V’s army and set sail from Southampton to help claim the French throne for England.

Each has a different reason for going but none has any experience of fighting in a war.

Shakespearience: Henry V will be performed on Friday November 20 Students at 10 secondary schools from across Hampshire will come together to work on this new adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V.

The students will be working with members of The Berry Theatre’s drama development team to create a 30-minute version of the play.

To listen to Samuel West as The Chronicler or to find out more about the Road to Agincourt Project visit roadtoagincourt.co.uk.