Doomed romance, messing about in boats and marital mayhem will all be part and parcel of a visit to the Grosvenor Park in Chester this summer.

The hugely popular Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre opens its doors in Chester on Friday, July 3 with the much-anticipated production of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Across nine weeks, 55 shows will be performed in the theatre’s brand new, in-the-round format, in Chester’s Grosvenor Park.

Staged alongside Shakespeare’s best known tragedy will be the premiere of a new stage version of the children’s classic Wind in the Willows by Glyn Maxwell and farcical Shakespearean comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Organisers have revealed more than 13,000 advance tickets have been sold for the plays, with many shows already sold out and tickets holders travelling from across the North West and further to experience the critically acclaimed theatre.

Chester-born Alex Clifton, who co-founded the theatre in 2010, will return as artistic director and director for Romeo and Juliet and Wind in the Willows.

Mr Clifton was recently appointed as Chester Performs’ artistic director and will hold the role for the new cultural centre that is being built on Northgate Street and is due to open in autumn 2016.

He said: “This season is our most ambitious ever and our brilliant cast is really looking forward to sharing the work with Chester’s audience in our new theatre space. The democratic and intimate theatre-in-the-round will be the ideal home for these vivid and passionate stories of love and joy.”

Rebecca Gatward, a leading TV and theatre director, will direct The Merry Wives of Windsor - her previous productions include Beryl with Maxine Peake and This is Our Youth with Matt Damon.

Romeo and Juliet will star Jessica Clark who performed last year as Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden and Old Lady Pinch in The Comedy of Errors. Her star crossed lover is Adam Harley, a recent graduate of RADA.

Romeo and Juliet is set in a small, rustic community in northern Italy, The Merry Wives of Windsor in the suburban 70s, complete with hostess trolley and bell-bottoms, leaving Wind in the Willows to create the magical, mystical atmosphere that lends itself so well to the open air productions.

Tickets for many of the shows are still available, call 0845 241 7868, visit www.grosvenorparkopenairtheatre.co.uk or drop into Chester Visitor Information Centre.