Well, here we are with another miserable summer. I have sympathised with the many open-air productions that hardy companies have thrown at the gods, but you can't enjoy a dashing version of The Rivals when the rain is dripping off your umbrella and the thunder is drowning the dialogue. My worst experience of an open-air production was at Lulworth Castle where a very talented and successful amateur company attempted to stage Macbeth. It had been a dismal week and the weather forecast was not encouraging, but this valiant band of players decided to chance it.

The opening scenes dripped with atmosphere and foreboding against the castle backdrop. The actors had been provided with discreet radio microphones which allowed for whispers and secretive conversations to be received comfortably by the audience and did not require the actors to bellow hoarsely at the sky. The sky, however, started to darken and there were anxious glances at the heavens. Then, as the knocking at the door of Dunsinane Castle started, it was echoed by several violent cracks of thunder. The audience giggled nervously, but the sky then lit up with jagged lightning strikes and more ear-rattling thunder. The Porter continued his speech like the trouper he was, but was silenced when a vivid flash of lightning struck one of the long radio masts used to receive the radio signals from the actors' microphones. There was a loud fizzing and the loudspeakers screamed once and died. Then the heavens opened and the torrential downpour scattered the audience to their cars and to the shelter of the castle walls, never to assemble again that night.

Is it really worth it? Regents Park Open Air Theatre has slowly evolved into not quite so open-air as it was. The vagaries of our weather must always make open-air theatre a bit of a gamble, but I still think it's a worthwhile risk as long as you have alternative accommodation and do not have to disappoint your audience, but that is an expensive operation - paying for space you may not even need! It also requires stamina to perform in the open-air and a throat with a leather lining. If only we could guarantee the climate of Greece for a couple of weeks. I have enjoyed some wonderful productions at the West Stow site in Norfolk, but I have also watched a stalwart cast striving against the rain which was pounding down on the tarpaulins over the heads of a shivering audience.

To all you brave thespians taking your work outside this summer, good luck and may the forecasts be with you.

Ray Dyer