IT is the second production of this popular Shakepearean comedy to open this month and the second to be rained on, if not off.

About 40 people braved a steady drizzle to see Theatre Set-Up in action at Witley Court, set in the period of Richard the Lionheart which was theatre at its broadest brush-stroke.

A small, enthusiastic cast trebled and even quadrupled for this most pastoral of Shakespeare's plays, set largely in the Forest of Arden where an exiled Duke and his followers have sought refuge.

An accompanying programme helpfully provided copious background information about some of the themes and meanings of the play - social realism, rites of passage, the pastoral tradition.

Which was just as well as there was little subtlety to be found in the lively cast's performances.

I would take issue with the fight and wrestling sequences, credited, which were appallingly inept. PW