The Lord Chamberlain’s Men stage Shakespeare’s plays in the way they were intended to be performed – with an all-male cast and in the open air.

In a play with an excess of gender confusion and not altogether conventional sexual attractions the all-male cast lent an added layer of confusion that was touchingly played out in this performance.

The open air bit meant the actors’ lines were sometimes overlaid with the honking of geese on a fly-past or the popping of champagne among the laid-back audience.

It all added to the sense of fun and Shakespeare’s poetic lines shone through, although Orsino’s lines – “If music be the food of love…” and onwards – were delivered too harshly and without enough nuance.

When the poetry shifted to the raucous prose of Sir Toby Belch and co. it was easier for the actors to express themselves and in a play with lightning quick shifts of scene it was impressive how slickly and cleverly the players moved around the small makeshift stage.

With a summer tour covering 8,000 miles and 80 performances in 70 different locations one can only hope the actors enjoy putting up and taking down the stage as much as they seemed to enjoy bringing us Shakespeare in the raw.

Three stars