Hamlet tickets at the Barbican: Sherlock fans race to see Benedict Cumberbatch take on Shakespeare's challenging role

Find out how to purchase your tickets for the Barbican Theatre play here

Benedict Cumberbatch will star as Hamlet on stage in 2015 (Getty Images)

Fans hoping to catch Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch in the ultimate Shakespearean role of Hamlet will have their chance from 10am today.

The English actor, 38, will take the lead in the Barbican Theatre’s production of the classic tragedy in 2015.

Directed by Lyndsey Turner, known for the award-winning Chimerica, Hamlet will run from 5 August to 31 October next year.

Actors to have tackled the notoriously challenging role in the past include Rory Kinnear, Jude Law and Michael Sheen.

Cumberbatch is no stranger to the stage, having starred in Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein in 2011 and Hedda Gabler in 2005.

Known for Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hobbit franchise and forthcoming Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game, Cumberbatch has long intended to learn Hamlet’s famous lines.

“I don’t know if there is such a thing as a right age to play the part, but 36 or 37 seems appropriate to me, so I need to do it before long,” he told The Telegraph in 2012.

Fans were given the first glimpse of Cumberbatch as Hamlet last week (sort of), when two official images were released featuring a group of children dressed up as the characters from the play.

Tickets for the show, which is expected to sell out quickly, can be bought over the phone, in person or from the Barbican’s special ticket site hamlet.barbican.org.uk. They cost between £30 and £62.50, plus booking fee.

If you lose out, don’t panic just yet, as there will be one hundred £10 tickets kept back for purchase on the morning of performances.