A Midsummer Nights’ Dream is Arundel's summer Shakespeare

A spokesman said: “Five couples – three human, one fairy, and one mythical – find their relationships sorely tested, intimately probed and indecently exposed when a troupe of amateur theatricals bumble into the forest to rehearse a play.

“The play opens with Theseus and Hyppolyta who were four days away from their wedding. Theseus was not happy about how long he had to wait while Hyppolyta thinks it's a dream. Theseus is confronted by Egeus and his daughter Hermia, who is in love with Lysander, resistant to her father's demand that she marries Demetrius, whom he has arranged for her to marry. Enraged, Egeus invokes an ancient Athenian law before Duke Theseus, whereby a daughter needs to marry a suitor chosen by her father or else face death. Theseus offers her another choice: lifelong chastity as a nun worshipping the goddess Diana, but they both deny his choice and make a secret plan to escape into the forest for Lysander's a unt's house...”

Entry by pre-booked online tickets only. Free parking is provided from 5.30pm near the cricket club on London Road. U se postcode for satnav BN18 9BA and follow signs off London Road.

Timetable: 18.00 gates open for picnics; 18.30 performance area opens for seating; 19.30 play begins; 20.40 Interval (15 mins); 22.00 finish. Picnics are welcome in the grounds. www.arundelcastle.org.