29 June
Bard Company

It had been a fairly crappy week, what with the redundancy notices and everything.

So, it was a delight to head off into the Cheshire countryside in the late afternoon and journey to Dunham Massey, a National Trust property near to Altrincham.

Our goal was an open air performance of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing given by Chapterhouse Theatre Company. We arrived at about 6pm and were directed to the lawn in front of the house where assembled throngs were picnicking. We got out the hamper and had ours.

The event was altogether enjoyable. Everything became part of the performance - birdsong, jet engines, wandering deer, sudden shafts of light on the trees, light rain. It really was a big party. I don't know that the performance was anything more than adequate - Much Ado is pretty hard to mess up. The actors deserve credit for projecting so much energy and getting the production across. However, the result can hardly be said to have been subtle. I'm happy to give the evening three stars, however.