THIS week has seen the eagerly awaited announcement of next summer's open air Shakespeare production by the Barnard Castle theatre group, the Castle Players.

Next year's offering is The Merry Wives of Windsor which will be staged in the grounds of the Bowes Museum from July 9-12.

Gordon Duffy-McGhie will once again direct a cast of award winning community actors in this riotous comedy.

The Players' spokesman, Trudi Dixon, said the group's first annual open air production was in 1989 at the museum. Subsequent shows alternated with the castle grounds.

"Long time regulars will remember that in 1993 The Merry Wives of Windsor was the Players' last production in the castle grounds.

"Since then we have enjoyed a fruitful and long-lasting partnership with the Bowes and are thrilled to be producing the show again in our tenth consecutive year at the museum."

Describing the play, Mr Duffy-McGhie said it was written in 1601 at the behest of Queen Elizabeth I.

"Shakespeare's timeless comedy of marital fidelity tells the tale of Sir John Falstaff's attempt to replenish his ever-dwindling bank balance by relieving two local businessmen of their money and their wives.

"In a series of hilarious, farcical encounters, Elizabeth's favourite fat knight, Falstaff, is half-drowned, half-smothered and near beaten to death as he is outfoxed by the cunning of the play's two very merry wives."