Hamlet chosen Shakespeare's best play

Hamlet has been voted Shakespeare's finest play in a poll conducted by the Royal Shakespeare Company among its actors and actresses.

The play beat King Lear into second place and Antony and Cleopatra came third.

The other plays in the top ten were Henry IV, Part II, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Othello, Titus Andronicus, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest.

Paul Scofield, 82-year-old veteran of stage and cinema, has been acclaimed for giving the greatest performance in a Shakespeare play for his legendary portrayal of King Lear.

Paulina in The Winter's Tale has been chosen for the most inspiring Shakespeare character while Iago in Othello is chosen for the most unappealing Shakespeare character.

The 200 voters included Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Antony Sher, Janet Suzman, Ian Richardson, Sir Donald Sinden and Corin Redgrave.

Hamlet was also judged the Shakespeare play most relevant to today's world and the one with the most memorable quotation: 'If it be now, it not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet will come; the readiness is all'.

Those who voted for Hamlet, which at 4,042 lines is the Bard's longest play, said that they had chosen it for its unique understanding of the human condition and for the universality of its themes.