VISITORS may find themselves face-to-face with a cardboard cut-out of William Shakespeare as it makes its way around the town as part of the Smithy's exhibition.

This year's displays at the Kiln Lane venue are focused on how life changed throughout the medieval and Tudor periods - exploring the discoveries, beliefs, superstitions, celebrations and cuisine.

Entitled 'Plague and Prose' it has been launched to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

And people may spot the Bard around the area as the life-size cut-out ventures out around the area as part of a fun competition.

The Smithy has already hosted a talk earlier this year by Rosemary Tyler which gave an insight into the man behind the myth and his possible links to the area.

"The whole idea is it is celebrating Shakespearian connections in the area," said Joanne Chamberlain, joint-curator of the Smithy with Vicky Griffiths.

"There is all the urban legends that A Midsummer Night's Dream was played at Knowsley Hall and we explored it so we are talking about the time period when Shakespeare lived.

"There's a lot going on in Prescot with the Shakespeare North theatre though we didn't deliberately time it with that so that worked out well.

"The whole idea is that the Plague was in London so Shakespeare's group moved up north and started playing."

Joanne added: "As part of the exhibition, we have started a section on our web site called 'Where's Willy'. We put the image on our web site and for a bit of fun, people can e-mail us with their guesses."

Visit smithyheritagecentre.org.uk to take part.

The exhibition is open in the Smithy every Saturday and Sunday from 1pm to 4pm until September 11.