True history, classic novels, real lives and fairytale horror are all brought to the stage in Leeds this winter and spring.

More than a dozen diverse plays will be presented by West Yorkshire Playhouse, from this month until June.

The Red Shoes, based on the classic story by Hans Christian Andersen, is described as "theatre for adults and brave children".

The play-with-music follows a girl who dances past love, life and death as she tries to rid herself of her shoes (January 21-February 1).

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (January 15-18) examines the two sides of a man's personality amid a backdrop of fabulous wealth and appalling poverty.

The Accrington Pals (February 21-March 29) looks at the true story of a small town that raises a battalion to fight in the First World War.

More than 600 were killed or injured in just 20 minutes during a push into no man's land in the summer of 1916.

Peter Whelan's "powerfully moving" drama contrasts life in the trenches with the lives of the women left behind in Lancashire.

Midnight's Children is a dramatisation of Salman Rushdie's novel about life in India and Pakistan since the independence of 1947.

The Royal Shakespeare Company presents this "magic, myth-making and mischief of modern India" on May 13-17.

Northern Broadsides performs its latest Shakespeare production, the epic coming-of-age drama Henry V, on May 20-31.

The acclaimed theatre company also performs A Woman Killed With Kindness, a passionate Yorkshire tragedy set in the 17th-century countryside in the same week.

Why the Whales Came is an adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's book, for eight to 13-year-olds and their families (June 11-14).

A young boy and girl are stranded on a remote island during the fog and have to unravel its haunting secrets.

Reunion (May 26-June 7) is a John Godber comedy about a hilarious and embarrassing new gameshow based on a school reunion.

Four Nights in Knaresborough (February 7-March 8) looks at what might have happened after four knights murdered Archbishop Thomas Beckett in 1170.

The "historical drama for the Tarantino generation" is said to have all the sexual energy, personal traumas and quick humour of a lads' night out.

Once Upon a Time in Wigan (March 11-22) recreates eight hours in the life of Wigan Casino at the height of Northern Soul.

This "glorious, loving celebration" follows young people as they come of age and prepare to enter the real world.

Sunbeam Terrace (March 27-April 12) is a drama set on a real Leeds housing estate, featuring drug dealers, teenage tearaways and a lap dancer.

Phoenix Dance Theatre performs a triple bill on February 13-15, and Opera North performs "music at the edge of time" in Transfigured Night with soloist Kate Flowers (March 23).

Book tickets for all productions at Keighley Information Centre in the town hall, or phone 0113 213-7700.

Above: A scene from Accrington Pals, which is coming to the West Yorkshire Playhouse