A MAN who is staging Shakespeare plays at Blenheim Palace this summer found out he is related to the poet’s first publisher in a bizarre chance meeting.

The theatre producer, James Cundall, is putting on four of the poet’s plays inside the unique Elizabethan theatre at Oxfordshire’s poshest palace.

The theatre is a pop up full-scale version of the Elizabethan playhouse and has been recreated at the Woodstock UNESCO World Heritage Site’s historic grounds for a nine-week stint, showcasing four plays.

Mr Cundall, who is running the works, said had ‘no idea’ he was a descendant of the actor Henry Condell, one of the two men responsible for publishing the first ever collection of Shakespeare’s work, the First Folio – until he bumped into a distant relative at a gathering in America.

The chief executive of Lunchbox Productions and founder of Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre said he was in the states at a swish club when he got talking to a man with the same surname as him.

He explained: “In 1623 my ancestor was instrumental in preparing and editing the first ever collection of Shakespeare plays.

“He was also an actor in the King’s Men, the company Shakespeare wrote for.

“I discovered this by accident when I got talking to a man who shares my surname at the Bohemian Club in California, where I was a guest.”

Mr Cundall, who is also an MBE, went on: "He explained that the Cundalls in all probability have a very important ancestor in common, one of two men who published the First Folio.

“I did my research of my own and it all seemed to add up. It really is a wonderful thing to be able to lay claim to, and a fantastic anecdote.”

He added: “What’s so exciting is that Henry would totally recognise this Rose Theatre as one of his own.”

He explained that there is more than one spelling of his surname, but all variations can be traced back to the same family.

It is understood around 750 copies of the First Folio were printed in the 1600s, while 235 are known to still exist.

In 2006, a near-perfect First Folio was sold at auction for £2.8 million.

This summer the 13-sided Shakespeare's Rose Theatre, which has three tiers of covered seating and an open courtyard, will be staging Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard III and Romeo and Juliet.

The theatre is inspired by the original, which was built in 1587 on the south bank of the River Thames in the capital.

Mr Cundall added: “Henry would have known the sights and sounds of the village extremely well. A lot of the props we have in the theatre are also very similar to the ones he would have used, including a trapdoor in the stage floor.

“Last year I had the opportunity to hold a First Folio. It was incredible to think my ancestor would have held it too.

“I suspect Henry would have been very amused if he could have seen into the future.

“We are one of the largest privately run Shakespearean companies in Europe, and possibly the world and what we are doing is unique. We are performing these plays in the space they were meant to be performed in."