Summer is a time of theatrical opportunism as companies take advantage of the sunshine, offering audiences cultural picnics where they can consume Shakespeare along with Chablis. Many of these shows are mediocre, but not this imaginative adaptation by Bryony Lavery of Mary Webb's classic novel set in the rural England of the early 19th century. Played in the grounds of Walcot Hall, with the Shropshire hills as a backdrop, it feels as if you have been transported back to a world in which a young woman with a hare lip, a mind of her own and a way with words can be demonised as a witch, and love might actually materialise out of the gloaming, if not on a white charger, then on a pony.
Webb's tale of Prue Sarn and her choleric brother Gideon, who dreams of making a go of his farm and sacrifices family and love in pursuit of his dream, is a simple but densely poetic piece of storytelling. Lavery's version captures its tone and style, turning it into what seems like a hymn to a long-lost England. There is a real darkness in the world where Beguildy sells his own daughter, the hireling fair trades in humans and the mob runs together like a pack of wild dogs, snapping at anything and anyone they don't understand.
Outdoor theatre doesn't offer much opportunity for subtlety, but, though Theresa Heskins's production, with its heroines and villains, giddy girls and strong men, paints with bold strokes, it is full of wit, invention and charm. It is also given emotional depth by a large choir, whose voices rise and fall with the emotional highs and lows of the story and float eerily across the air. It is a darkly delightful evening, full of harsh realities and ghostly visions.
· At Witley Court, Worcestershire (01299 896636), until Sunday, then touring.
