LIAM Evans-Ford reflects that he left drama school as a vegetarian with ambitions to act in classical theatre and yet his latest role is in a commercial for McDonalds, the burger people.

Yet he's no out-of-work actor doing ads for lack of proper stage work.

For eight months of the year he's occupied running his own theatre company, with actress wife Hester Evans. Sprite Productions, formed in 2004, is rehearsing its third open-air Shakespeare production to be staged in the grounds of Ripley Castle, near Harrogate.

He could, as artistic director and producer, award himself the biggest, juiciest roles but doesn't, partly because he thinks that could send out the wrong messages to the potential audience. "They might think I'm producing the show in order to play all these wonderful parts," he says.

"Besides there's a lot to do. I'm still kind of compering the evening and acting as head steward as well as all the other things. Quite honestly, I'd love to act in it. The acting part of me kicks myself when I see myself giving all these people wonderful parts.

"We held auditions at the Old Vic, next to Kevin Spacey's office, and I'd leave our auditions to go and audition for similar roles for other theatre companies. I thought, 'this is a bit odd, I could be giving myself the part'."

He appeared in last year's Sprite production for two performances after the actor playing Tybalt turned his ankle and had to rest. "Luckily, I'd played the part before and had choreographed the fighting. But that was more nerve-racking than putting on the whole production," he says.

Staging a promenade production with professional actors, original costumes and the unpredictable British weather takes some doing. But if Evans-Ford didn't enjoy the experience, he wouldn't suffer the stress and strain of staging open-air Shakespeare. With a budget of £50,000, Evans-Ford is well aware of the need to attract and increase audiences. The signs are encouraging. The debut production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was seen by 2,500 people and last year's Romeo And Juliet by 4,000.

"It gets bigger every year," he says. "My artistic side says, let's get bigger and better and more exciting and keep the audience interested so more people come and watch it."

What business might call quality control is important to him. It was the main reason that he and Hester, who met while both were working for the Royal Shakespeare Company, formed Sprite.

"As an actor, I'd worked for open-air Shakespeare companies and was disappointed with some of them because they toured from venue to venue, night to night, and didn't properly inhabit the space," he explains.

He's trying to do something more site specific in which the promenade production moves around the gardens and grounds of Ripley Castle. Locations are chosen to reflect the play. Instead of building a set, the castle and surrounding area become the set.

They used Ripley because Hester grew up nearby and used to play in the castle woods as a child. She provided an introduction to Sir Thomas Ingilby, the castle's owner. Now open-air Shakespeare is part of the Ripley calendar along with concerts and other events.

Dream was the obvious choice for the first production, a piece of Shakespeare that lends itself so well to an outdoor setting. Evans-Ford wanted to test the audience last year by seeing if people would accept a tragedy - "to come and appreciate the work as well as the beautiful setting," as he says.

This year's Much Ado About Nothing, he feels, is perfect for an English country garden setting. "We'll be using some different sites," he says. "We're going to have the picnic area in a different place, probably the orchard where we staged the balcony scene from Romeo And Juliet.

"Moving the picnic area means we can use the whole house as the background for scenes, with lots of stuff happening in the background. If you keep moving locations, you get freshened up."

His ambition is to stage The Tempest by the lake. And around the lake and even on the lake. But they would probably mean fixed seating as opposed to promenading.

"There are so many plays that could be done and would work. Every member of the audience we talk to has another suggestion," he says.

He wants to keep doing the Bard's works. "I love Shakespeare and as an actor, it sounds awfully snobbish, but there's so much more depth to it. That's the reason he's still around," he adds.

Evans-Ford is already working on ideas for 2008 but isn't ready to reveal them yet. He does reveal that Sir Thomas Ingilby has commissioned a script to mark Ripley Castle's 700th anniversary in 2009. Sprite will stage the play as well as Shakespeare.

Evans-Ford is hoping that one show a year will develop into a summer season with several productions playing in repertoire over a longer period than the current three weeks.

With a cast of 11 and a production team of seven or eight, the size of the Sprite company is bigger than ever. Lucy Kerbel is directing, as she did last year.

Changes see a generator is being replaced by a proper power supply, with the lighting designer coming from the Young Vic. So, says Evans-Ford, productions are moving on technically as well as artistically.

The company has been lucky with the unpredictable British weather in previous years. If it rains, the production is performed in a marquee.

After Much Ado, Evans-Ford will turn his attention to another production - wife Hester is expecting their first child, due in mid-August.

n Much Ado About Nothing is performed in the grounds of Ripley Castle from June 12 to July 1. Tickets and information 01423-770632.