SHOPPERS at Worcester's CrownGate Centre could suddenly find themselves involved in a day at the races as the Swan Theatre is taking the stage outside.

The Races is an original play written by one of the Swan Playwrights, Georgina Macbeth - and, yes, that's her real name.

"We ran a competition with our writer's group," said Jenny Stephens, artistic director at the Swan, who is directing the play.

"There was no theme they had to follow except it had to be written for the outside. We chose The Races because it had a really theatrical approach in writing. It's an exciting piece."

The Races interweaves the different stories of people who attend a particular race.

The characters include a husband and wife who bet on different horses.

"She's a bit fed up and feels constrained by her domestic circumstances," said Jenny.

There's also a woman who went to the races with her father when she was a child and, now he's dead, returns to lay some ghosts to rest.

Finally, there are three girls who've gone along to have a laugh, and hopefully pull.

"It's a tapestry-of-life piece," said Jenny.

The cast is drawn from members of the Swan's own amateur Community Company.

The 20-minute performance will take place at 2pm tomorrow in the CrownGate Centre between Druckers and Huntingdon Hall, open to all the elements.

"If it rains, we'll get wet," said Jenny, with Zen-like simplicity.

Jenny and co-director Kim Greengrass had to treat the play differently than an indoor production.

"You can't just take a kitchen sink drama and shove it outside - it simply wouldn't work," said Jenny.

"It's a whole different genre and uses different techniques."

To capture the interest of passers-by, actors need to talk to the audience rather than just to each other.

The actors will also have to try harder to be heard as there's no roof for sound to bounce off.

Working outdoors harks back to the mediaeval mystery plays, when different guilds would perform the plays and practise their trades out in the street - "it would be the nailmakers who'd play the part of nailing Jesus to the cross," explained Jenny.

As for the Swan, this could mark the first step in a continuing al fresco trend.

"Obviously, the theatre's great, but it's nice to get outdoors," said Jenny.

"We're looking to maybe do a big, big project outdoors in a couple of years time and we're currently looking at the possibility of going to Witley Court."