THE Castle Players have been doing outdoor Shakespeare since 1989. All but three of their past productions have taken place under the glorious, and now quite famous, spreading beech tree that has almost become an honorary member of the players.

The tree is sadly dying and has become unsafe, so the players have changed location to the back lawn and, in another new and brave move, erected covered seating for the first time.

But the play’s the thing and Shakespeare had a smutty little joke with this title, as “nothing”

was slang at the time for vagina. So, it doesn’t take a genius to guess that this is a story about sex and love. The rock and roll of the time is magnificently re-created and specially composed by internationally-famous, American-born lutenist, Jacob Heringman.

You may not know it, but you’ll have heard him on the soundtrack of Harry Potter III and Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood; he makes the atmosphere very special indeed.

The story isn’t the easiest to follow, there’s a kind of merry war of love going on with couples changing partners and weddings everywhere.

The main characters, Benedick and Beatrice (Susie Kitson), are in love, it’s just that they don’t know it. Andrew Stainthorpe captures the sarcastic humour of Benedick well, but is slightly upstaged by his horse, Charlotte Perkins, riding a hobby horse on wheels, who gallops across the stage with great comedy timing.

The costumes are fabulous, thanks to Lesley Cutting.

Costume of the night goes to Don John (Andy Moorhouse) and those high-heel boots.

Best performance to Tom Hughes as Don John’s follower, Borachio, who acted his socks off. The crowd, having a right old party at the back of the set among the fallen pillars, are a delight to watch and in perfect harmony with the story.

A few slight glitches with the sound in the first half were soon fixed and I can pronounce this production another fine success story for director/designer Simon Pell and his fantastic players.

• Runs until Saturday at 7.30pm. Tickets are priced from £5 to £16. Box office – Freephone 0800-074-7080. Further information from castleplayers.co.uk