After 75 years of bringing the Bard to local theatregoers, Richmond Shakespeare Society (RSS) is celebrating its three-quarters-of-a-century not out with an outdoor production of Much Ado About Nothing, writes Will Gore.

The show will run at York House Gardens, Twickenham, from July 5 to 11 and director John Gilbert, 42, is delighted to be at the helm of one of his favourite plays for the anniversary.

“We have a rota of plays and Much Ado came up. It is my favourite Shakespeare so, when I saw it on the rota, I thought, ‘I’m going to have to go for it’,” he says.

“It was the first play the society put on, in 1934, so it is nice to be doing it again to mark the anniversary. When we went into rehearsals we talked about that and, in the programme, we have printed the cast list from that production as a tribute.”

When RSS was founded, its raison d’etre was to stage one Shakespeare play a year in the open air.

The society now has around 1,000 members, with 200 of those signed up to take part in one one of the eight annual productions that are performed, for the most part, at the Mary Wallace Theatre, in Twickenham.

Of course, the tradition of performing outside has continued and Gilbert is happy to head into the great outdoors for Much Ado About Nothing. He has also set his production in Elizabethan dress as another means of keeping in touch with the society’s past.

“I have set it roughly from 1590 to 1605, give or take a few problems getting the right boots, and that was because it points out the relationship RSS has with Shakespeare’s writing and, because it is the anniversary show, we thought we would push the boat out a bit,” he says.

“Seventy-five years down the line, I wonder if the first members would have imagined RSS would still be going strong and performing the same show in doublet and hose in the park.”

Gilbert has been a member of the society since 2002 as a performer, director, and even theatre bar manager. So what does he think has allowed RSS to flourish for so long?

“The most important thing about the society is that is very warm and social,” he explains. “When we are at the Mary Wallace, you have people working on a show but also people socialising in the bar – there is a positive atmosphere.

“There is also a degree of experience in the company and, when it comes to performing and learning Shakespeare’s verse, that shows.

“Other groups who only do Shakespeare every four of five years have to start from scratch each time.”

Much Ado About Nothing, York House Gardens, Twickenham, July 5 to 11, £9/£10/£12, call 020 8744 0547, visit richmondshakespeare.org.uk