As You Like It, is considered one of Shakespeare's most elegant plays, as he resolves the plot with four weddings and no funeral, whereas most of the bard's other comedies contain at least one death. Perhaps this is why members of the Oxford Theatre Guild are staging it as their summer production this year.

They have chosen Trinity College Gardens as their venue, which will act as a superb backdrop, particularly as much of the action takes place in the Forest of Arden. By staging it in the open air the guild members are convinced they add an extra dimension to this play.

As You Like It is the story of gender reversals. It's also the play which features one of Shakespeare's most famous monologues, which states: "All the world's a stage." It's the story of an exiled duke and his daughter, Rosalind, who falls in love in love with the handsome Orlando. She, too, is banished and leaves the court by disguising herself as a boy, and so the first gender reversal gets under way as she becomes Ganymede (pictured), while her companion Celia dresses as a common sheperdess and calls herself Aliena.

Orlando enters Rosalind's life again and, on taking her to be a young man, confides in her that his affections for Rosalind are overpowering him. It's here that the deception really gets complicated as, in the guise of Ganymede, Rosalind claims to be an expert in exorcising such emotions. She goes as far as to suggest she can cure Orlando of lovesickness if he agrees to pretend that Ganymede is Rosalind and that he comes to woo her every day.

Naturally, there comes a moment when Orlando grows tired of pretending that the youth is his dear Rosalind and she decides to end the charade, which is further complicated by another's pursuit of Ganymede. However, thanks to Hymen, the God of marriage, the wedding celebrations which bind the right partners together finally happens. It is indeed a delightful, if somewhat complicated, story.

As You Like It, opens at Trinity College Gardens at 7.30pm from Tuesday to Saturday, July 26. Tickets can be booked by ringing: 01865 305305.