This was an amusing, but somewhat confusing production in the idyllic setting of the grounds of Lewes Castle.

It transferred to the outdoors after a stint at the theatre's home, just off Western Road, Brighton, earlier in the month.

Richard Lindfield, who directed the productions with Michael Urwin, is a successful broadcaster, actor and theatre director.

He used his directing and acting talents as the quack doctor well in this production but I felt the introduction of modern music and bizarre costumes to this Restoration farce spoilt what is a hilarious play in its original form.

The directors also mucked about with William Wycherley's script. Bringing a play written in the 1670s into the 21st Century in this way gave the cast carte blanche to overact and, in some cases, be downright silly.

There were some funny moments which the audience, with picnic baskets and bottles of wine spread out on the grass, loved. The scene was like a miniature Glyndebourne.

There were some excellent performances, notably Bill Griffiths as the sex-mad Horner, David Goodger as the elderly husband and Miranda Gay as his wife.

But on a summer's evening underneath the walls of the historic Lewes Castle, I would have preferred to have seen Mr Lindfield and co stick to the original script.

Introducing costumes and a backdrop which looked as if they had come from the Seventies film A Clockwork Orange, and gimmicks such as a Big Issue seller made it all seem rather bizarre.

We had music from the Housemartins and Divine Comedy and even an impersonation of Tom Jones.

In this olde-worlde setting, it would have been better to have dressed the cast in more traditional costumes and retained the original script.

If they had done that, the whole production would have been more believable.