THE cast of a new out-door production of The Herbal Bed will be spending the next few days praying for good weather.

"We had our first dress rehearsal on Sunday when the weather was gorgeous and if it is like that for the show we'll be fine," said Amanda Bonnick, who plays the lead, Shakespeare's daughter.

"But if it's like this then we're in trouble," she said, casting a glance outside as buckets of rain were lobbed down from the heavens.

Tropical storms notwithstanding, The Melting Pot Theatre Company could not have picked a better location for this play.

First of all, the second half of the play is actually set in Worcester as Susanna Hall argues a slander case in the Cathedral Court.

Secondly, the first half of the play is set in a herbal garden where the lovers meet, and the Commandery has its very own herbal garden.

"The play is basically about Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna Hall, who is married to John Hall, a well-respected doctor," said Amanda.

"The marriage isn't loveless but there's not a lot of passion. She falls for a young haberdasher called Rafe Smith and they had a covert meeting in the herbal garden.

"They are spotted by a young blabber-mouth called Jack Lane, who spreads the word around that she is a loose woman."

This news would ruin John Hall and he defends his wife against the charge, taking the slander case to Worcester Cathedral Court.

The play, written by Peter Whelan, had its premiere in Stratford in 1996, when it starred Joseph Fiennes, and is based on actual documentary evidence.

In the records of the Cathedral Court, there still exists the record of the slander, claiming Susanna had been "naughty with Rafe Smith".

The slander also claimed she had "the run of the reigns" otherwise known as gonorrhoea, which ironically was the disease her father was dying from at the time.

"A part of the play deals with Susanna worrying about her dying father, and even her husband, the doctor, cannot save him," said Amanda.

Susanna herself did not have the disease, but in another ironic twist she later died of scurvy, the same disease her husband had discovered could be prevented with watercress.

The play was never meant to be an historical document, but is a dramatisation of the pain behind the sparse facts preserved from the case.

Although the production will be held in an enclosed garden, the cast will have to deal with the lack of a roof.

"It is a question of turning up the volume and speaking louder," Amanda said.

However, the natural light will also fit the style of the play. Starting at 7.30pm the first scene is set in the daytime, followed by the second set in the early evening.

"The herbal garden was John Hall's where he made his various cures and potions," said Amanda.

"And at the time of the play, around 1613, the Commandery was a hospital."

This is only the second production by the new company.

"There was a group of us who decided to go professional at the same time," said Amanda.

"And, increasingly, you find the best way to get work as a professional is to put it on yourself."

Steve Quick directs The Herbal Bed, and the cast includes Andrew Dealtry as John Hall, Neville Cann as Rafe Smith, Matthew Brockington as Jack Lane and nine year-old Hannah Whaler as Elizabeth Hall.

The Herbal Bed runs from Tuesday, August 6, to Saturday, August 10, at 7.30pm. Tickets, priced at £7.50, £6 concessions, are available by calling 01905 611427.

Not suitable for under 12s.