Shakespeare comedies performed outdoors at Peterborough Cathedral

A joyous and celebratory production of As You Like It will be performed by The Lord Chamberlain’s Men on June 15, on the green outside the west front of the Cathedral.

The all-male theatre company, who can trace their roots back to Shakespeare’s time, visited last year with their much acclaimed, sell-out production of Macbeth. They are especially looking forward to the extra layer of fun and intrigue they will bring to this year’s show, when the plot means that a man playing a woman who is dressed as a man, pretends to be a woman!

Peter Stickney, Artistic Director and Producer says: “As You Like It is a wonderfully warm, funny and rich play. We follow our main characters as they flee or are exiled from the court to set up new lives in the Forest of Arden. There they find love, freedom and, ultimately, happiness. There is clearly much to be said for running away to the countryside and starting again! There will be plenty of songs and laughs, some classic Shakespearean cross-dressing confusion and a spot of wrestling.”

Then in the Cloisters on July 14, Quantum Theatre will perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream - a story set on that most dangerous of nights, when fairies are abroad and nothing is as it seems.

Tickets at www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk