If the theatre can be a little stuffy in the summer, the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society (BMDS) has just the ticket Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ performed under the stars.The performance, directed by John Zuill, opens on Sunday in the Gazebo at Victoria Park and runs for a week.‘Much Ado About Nothing’ can be classified as a melodramatic comedy. It starts off lightheartedly and then gets darker in content towards the middle.In the story, Prince Dom Pedro (James Birch) has just returned from a war fought successfully against his brother, and is in a celebratory mood. BMDS has chosen to set the play in the post Second World War period, as opposed to the more traditional Elizabethan period.As a result, characters will be dressed in 1940s attire.“Everyone is looking for a good time in the play,” said Mr Birch. “Some characters fall in love, and Dom Pedro plays matchmaker between the couples. I work my cupid magic on everyone. But I get into trouble doing that.”There are more than a few challenges to doing such a performance in Victoria Park. The basics? Weather, volume and the close proximity of the audience.“We are doing it in the round,” said Mr Birch, “so it is not traditional just playing to one side. We are playing to everyone.”Kristen Darrell, who plays Hero, said: “The audience will be right up close, so it is almost an interactive experience. So far, we have had one rehearsal in the park, and I found it quite different from practising in the comfort of Daylesford Theatre.”“There are cars going by on all four sides of the park,” said Charles Doyle, who plays Hero’s lover. “So you really have to speak much louder than you would in the theatre.”The plan is that if there is heavy rain in the weather forecast for the start of the show, it will be cancelled and refunds given, or tickets issued for a future night. If there is rain at the end of the show, they will just keep going through it.“I have been acting pretty much all of my life,” said Mr Birch. “I went away for theatre school for two years and did some acting in New York.“I have now returned to work in Bermuda. My mother is Carol Birch who is well known in the theatre community, so as a child I pretty much lived under the stage of City Hall and at BMDS.”Miss Darrell said she caught the acting bug at the end of high school. She originally wanted to make acting a profession, but decided to go in a different direction. She is currently working in computer science as a support analyst for government, but hopes to one day go back to school to study acting.“I still have that dream,” she said. “I am looking to hopefully make it as a full-time actor. Hopefully, that will be in the not-too-distant future. I am interested in computers, but not as interested as I thought I would be. You have to go with your passion.”This will be the first lead role for Miss Darrell. She admitted it was a bit daunting when she first saw the three-page-long monologues she had to memorise. “I have never had more than five lines in a play,” she said. “But the cast and production team and director have all been really great at helping me to get it.”Mr Doyle described the director, John Zuill, as a “Shakespeare nut”.“I think he is pretty well known around here,” said Mr Doyle. “The language is very difficult to comprehend. He has a very good way of applying a metaphor or vignette to a certain scene so you understand it better.”Miss Darrell said Mr Zuill was always stressing “just have fun”.“He says it is not supposed to be a daunting, horrible thing. He says when you have fun, it all just falls into place. I haven’t done too badly about learning my lines.“I have a photographic memory so it is sort of easy to learn the lines. The challenge is learning the lines and having to act and say them at the same time, and say them in a way that makes them believable.“It is actually really difficult to move and talk at the same time. It is something you don’t think about most of the time. I have done musicals, and it is easy to sing and dance, because you coordinate yourself.”Mr Birch and Mr Doyle also have careers in information technology. Mr Doyle does web design for Bermuda Yellowpages.“I mainly just like doing comedy so this is actually quite challenging for me,” said Mr Doyle. “It is a bigger part than I am familiar with. I like goofing around most of the time. It has been a very good experience. It is a hobby to me. I would like to eventually get into stand-up comedy.”There will be a party following Sunday’s performance where audience members have the opportunity to chat with the cast and crew.The play runs at 8pm each night through July 24. Tickets, $25, are available from the BMDS box office from 5.30pm to 7pm, and an hour before the show.They are also available online, www.bmds.bm.