FOR their latest alfresco presentation at Little Moreton Hall, Alsager Community Theatre have chosen one of Shakespeare's earliest, shortest and funniest plays.

Written between 1592 and 1594, The Comedy Of Errors crams every comic device into a classic tale of mistaken identity.

"It's a riot of misunderstanding," says director Maree Thorpe. "When two sets of long-lost twins turn up in Ephesus, the coincidence naturally results in a complicated plot and near-farcical situations. But this wildly comic play provides us with an opportunity to do what we love to do at Little Moreton Hall, which is to create lots of comic business for a cast of imaginative actors."

The new outdoor production features Philip Jackson as Antipholus of Syracuse, Martin Daniel as Antipholus of Ephesus, Frank McGregor as Dromio of Syracuse and Celia Turner as Dromio of Ephesus. Alistair Pullan is The Duke of Ephesus, Howard Thorpe is Aegeon, with Diane Lane as Adriana and Katie Johnson as Luciana.

Original music has been specially created by local composer Richard Tadman, and will be performed live on mandolin, recorder, drum and accordion.

Members of the audience are invited to picnic before the performance on the lawns at Little Moreton Hall, the National Trust-maintained Elizabethan manor house near Congleton. In the event of wet weather, performances will take place in a marquee.

The Comedy Of Errors is at Little Moreton Hall on July 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18 at 7.45pm. Telephone 01260 276165.