Jude Law is to play Hamlet on the West End stage, it was announced today.

Law will play the title role in a new production for the Donmar Warehouse, directed by Kenneth Branagh.

The pair, who worked together on the film Sleuth, will present the Shakespeare classic - which Law has long wanted to do - in the summer of 2009.

Michael Grandage, artistic director of the Donmar, said today: "Jude was on the record as saying he wanted to tackle Hamlet at some point."

However, until now, it had been expected that Law would eventually make his debut as the Danish prince at the Young Vic, where he has twice appeared before.

The coup for the Donmar will be just one highlight of a new season of work that it is to mount at the Wyndham's Theatre from September 2008, alongside the programme planned for its own, much smaller home in Covent Garden.

Derek Jacobi is to play Malvolio in Twelfth Night, directed by Grandage, who is celebrating five years in charge of the Donmar.

Branagh will also appear on stage as part of the West End season in a new version of Czeckov's Ivanov, written by Tom Stoppard.

All tickets will be at Donmar prices, which are traditionally much cheaper than the rest of the West End. At least 130 seats will be available nightly for £10.

Grandage said the West End season would help to overcome the disappointment sometimes caused when people were unable to get tickets at the 250-seat Donmar.

The star-studded season comes as the theatre has finally secured its long-term future by buying its Earlham Street base.

The 125-year lease represents the first time in the company's history that it has owned the building from which it operates.

Grandage said: "This is a major step for us that will allow us all to look to the future with real confidence. Now there is some legacy there."

At its home, the new season will include European classics, an early Arthur Miller play, and The Family Reunion by T S Eliot.

This year's programme in its Covent Garden theatre will conclude with Othello, staring Ewan McGregor and Chiwetel-Ejiofor. Overseas, the venue's production of Guys and Dolls, which originally starred McGregor in London, is to open in Australia next year.

Plans are also underway for the theatre's hit production of Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart to transfer to Broadway.

Grandage said: "In addition to our work in Covent Garden, we will expand the company's commitment to take our work to the wider public by running four plays in a West End theatre at Donmar prices.

"The two venues will work together to complement and enhance Donmar's output and reputation and bring serious drama to the heart of London's West End." Doctor Who star David Tennant is currently in negotiations to play Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company next summer.