GROSVENOR Park Open Air Theatre in Chester has assembled its cast and crew to celebrate a creative coming together of theatre professionals.

It was the start of its five week rehearsal schedule for Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and new sequel Masters Are You Mad?.

Productions of the Bard’s romantic comedy and a brand new sequel by writer Glyn Maxwell, will be performed in rep between July 6 and August 19.

Alex Clifton, artistic director and director of Twelfth Night, said: “It is always wonderful when you bring cast and crew together and witness first hand, the chemistry ignite between actors, director and designer. We are so fortunate to be working with some of the best acting talent in the country.”

Both productions will be performed in Chester’s one of a kind picnic theatre. The stage, seats and technical equipment won’t be installed until the end of June, so the cast are using a different venue to rehearse the plays.

Alex said: “It doesn’t matter that we aren’t rehearsing on the actual stage. We are rehearsing the characters, their stories, how they move, how they look, how they respond. The actors are becoming their characters. They need to inhabit them; it’s a very organic process.”

A former pupil of Christleton High, Alex’s directing career has taken him around the globe with projects in Africa, Japan, and the States.

This is Alex’s third year as artistic director of the Chester Performs-led open air theatre project.

He said: “It’s much easier directing a cast now that I know the space and theatre so well. I’ve tried to convey how extraordinarily unique the theatre is – there’s no other like it in this country.

“Both plays are set in the magical land of Illyria, with jungle and forests – it’s wonderful when there’s actual fauna and flora on and around the stage – you can even see the sun setting whilst performing - no lighting operator can control that.”

For Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, the cast will perform in both plays.

Alex added: “It’s a huge challenge, not only are they learning hundreds of lines of dialogue, but they have to create two characters.

“Although Masters Are You Mad? is a sequel to Twelfth Night and lots of the characters appear in both plays, they behave very differently in each.”

Tickets are priced from £12.50 for Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre and are on sale. Visit www.grosvenorparkopenairtheatre.co.uk or call 0845 241 7868.